Diet rich in tomatoes cuts skin cancer in half in mice

Discovery builds on previous evidence of cancer-prevention benefits

Ohio State University

Daily tomato consumption appeared to cut the development of skin cancer tumors by half in a mouse study at The Ohio State University.

The new study of how nutritional interventions can alter the risk for skin cancers appeared online in the journal Scientific Reports.

It found that male mice fed a diet of 10 percent tomato powder daily for 35 weeks, then exposed to ultraviolet light, experienced, on average, a 50 percent decrease in skin cancer tumors compared to mice that ate no dehydrated tomato.

Register by June 20 for Colinslaw. rally

Ft. Getty Car Show & Road Rally June 25th Car Show & Road Rally  Dear Classic & Antique Car Enthusiast, Please join us for our 2017 Ft. Getty Car Show & Road Rally on Sunday, June 25th in picturesque Jamestown, Rhode Island! This inaugural event is to benefit our nonprofit, ColinsLaw.org, dedicated to making our roadways safer for everyone! We expect up to 200 cars to participate in this event. More than your average Car Show, we have added a Road Rally Course for 30-50 cars, including some exotic classics. This is not to be missed! After the Rally, guests will enjoy a catered Chicken BBQ at the Ft. Getty Pavilion and have the opportunity to win some amazing raffle items, including a stay at the famous  Castle Hill Inn valued at $1,500! In addition, bragging rights will accompany a handsome trophy to the car that receives the most “People’s Choice” votes for favorite car. Entertainer/television personality and car enthusiast Jay Leno personally donated a private tour for 4 people at his famous Big Dog Garage in Burbank, CA. There’s still time to bid by visiting  www.ColinsLaw.org! We will announce the winner of this very special auction, which closes at 3 PM on June 25th, during the event. All registrations for Rally Cars MUST take place by Tuesday, June 20th. Show Cars may register upon arrival to event. Register here or by visiting www.ColinsLaw.org. We established ColinsLaw.Org  “Saving Lives Through Safer Roads” in the memory and honor of our son, Colin Foote, who was killed in 2010 by a drug addict with 19 prior traffic convictions who ran a red light, and killed him while crossing the intersection on his restored 1975 Honda 500T motorcycle. Our organization has been successful in having legislation passed to remove dangerous Habitual/Repeat Offenders from our roads and installing life-saving intersection technology. We hope you’ll support this worthy cause! Maryann and I look forward to seeing you there. Robin Foote Executive Director ColinsLaw.Org 401-741-1678

ColinsLaw.org | 143 Hamilton Ave., Jamestown, RI 02835 www.colinslaw.org

Road Rally June 25 for Colin Foote Scholarship

Keep reading to see the Rally Course...

The bidding is underway!

Colin Foote’s family set up scholarship fund in his memory

Scholarship winner will be announced tonight

The Robin & Maryann Foote family today announced the establishment of an annual scholarship at The Prout School in Wakefield, RI.

The scholarship will be awarded to an outstanding rising senior with a passion for and special interest in US History.

The “Colin B. Foote Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in History” has been established in the memory of their son, Colin B. Foote, a Prout School graduate of the class of 2001. 

Colin was killed crossing the intersection of Route 1 and West Beach Road in Charlestown on May 16, 2010 by a Habitual Traffic Offender who had 19 prior traffic citations yet was still driving.

Colin’s killer goes back to jail

Killer of popular Charlestown man violates probation

By Will Collette

The redlight camera installed at the installation where Laura Reale
committed her crime.

If you’ve watched local TV news in the past few daysyou may have caught the story about Laura Reale, the convicted killer of Colin Foote, a popular local man who was riding his motorcycle through the intersection at Route One and West Beach Road on May 16, 2010. 

She blew her probation and has been sent back to jail (click here for the ProJo’s coverage).

On that day in 2010, Reale was loaded and blew the red light, hitting and killing Colin in full view of his mother and sister who were trailing behind in their car. According to his mother, it took Colin a long and painful hour to die.

It turns out Reale was a habitual traffic offender who cleverly learned how to stay on the road by gaming the system to avoid losing her license, driving either drunk or high, endangering us all…and killing Colin.

As a result of that tragedy, then state Rep. Donna Walsh spearheaded the passage of “Colin’s Law” to close off some of the loopholes Reale and other habitual offenders had used to evade losing their licenses despite terrible driving records.

Reale received a 10-year sentence with 8 to serve plus two years’ probation and a 5-year license suspension. She ended up only serving 5 years. 

At some point after her release from prison, Reale once again started using drugs – opioids, benzodiazepines and marijuana. According to her lawyer, she is currently on methadone.

Reale has also been charged with buying “urine screens” – clean, dope-free urine samples so she could pass drug tests required as part of her probation.

Charlestown red light cameras will now issue actual tickets

After three years delay, cameras are now fully functional

By Will Collette

Cameras to catch drivers who run red lights are widespread nationwide and always controversial. There are those who believe they invade the privacy rights of motorists while they are breaking the law and endangering the lives of other drivers. 

There are others, like me, who think the cameras are one tool to help cut down on roadway vehicular homicide. In my view, there is no expectation of privacy when you use your driver’s license to drive your state-registered car down a publicly-funded roadway…and break the law, putting innocent people at risk.

Charlestown’s Colin Foote was killed at the intersection of Route One and West Beach Road in 2010 when Laura Reale, a habitual traffic offender, ran the red light. That sparked an effort to secure a contract to install red light cameras in Charlestown, a deal that costs the taxpayers nothing but might help to save lives through deterrence and punishment.

In 2012, the Town Council heard from two bidders and chose the worst one, Sensys, on the basis of false claims by the sales rep that the company was “Rhode Island based” and knew the area. They made this decision even though I provided the town with records showing that Sensys was a Swedish company with its US headquarters in Miami. It was a dead giveaway that Sensys was going to have trouble meeting their own hype when the Sensys sales rep got lost on his way to the Charlestown Town Hall and couldn’t get his Power Point presentation to work.

Getcher red-hot Charlestown Tapas

Crunchy news bites back by popular demand

By Will Collette

But first, check out the baby goat which has nothing to
do with anything in this article.

One of the by-products of my summer semi-sabatical has been fewer editions of Charlestown Tapas, our special collection of news tidbits. But now that summer is over, I hope to catch up on the backlog and bring this popular feature back.

First, some congratulations.

To us here at Progressive Charlestown for hitting the two-million mark for page-reads (people actually reading an article not just “hits”). Tom Ferrio and I started Progressive Charlestown in January 2011 as an alternative voice on politics in Charlestown, and never expected this kind of readership.

Belated congrats to Charlestown Housing and Zoning official Joe Warner for being named by the Governor to the RI Building Code Standards Committee. It’s an important position, so this is yet another recognition of Joe’s good work.

And also congratulations to Vicky Hilton for being picked as full-time Parks & Recreation Director. Vicky had been serving as acting director after the forced resignation of her former boss Jay Primiano. Vicky deserves the job on merit, but no doubt the Town Council preferred hiring her than having to publicly post the job and then have to deal with an application from ex-Councilor Lisa DiBello who received special permission from the Ethics Commission to apply if the job was opened up.

Jane Weidman also gets congratulations for being bumped up from part-time to full-time Charlestown Town Planner. The move became pretty much a sure thing after Block Island dropped Weidman from their payroll as part-time planner (Weidman was doing the same job for both Charlestown and Block Island) – without explaining why. Those reasons matter naught in Charlestown where the key criteria for Town Planner is to do exactly what CCA Party matriarch and Planning Commission leader Ruth Platner wants.

Chuck Wentworth deserves high praise – and got it in a very nice Projo piece doing just that – for the just-completed 35^th annual Rhythm and Roots Festival, one of the few remaining large events done in Ninigret Park. It’s hard to tell how long this tradition will continue, given the interest of many of the key Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA Party) backers in ending most human activity in Ninigret.

Killer released, quarry bills pass, Weidman’s future, ticks, nukes (again) and lots more

Another steaming plate of Charlestown Tapas
By Will Collette

More more Mutts cartoons by Patrick McConnell, CLICK HERE

 Colin Foote’s killer released from prison

LauraReale, habitual traffic offender and drunk driving killer, has been released from prison after serving four years of an eight year sentence for killing Charlestown’s Colin Foote in 2010 when she ran the red light at West Beach and Route One and struck down Colin on his motorcycle.

Colin Foote was 27. His mother was in a car following right behind and saw her son get killed. She and Colin’s father formed ColinsLaw.org which worked closely with former state Rep. Donna Walsh (D) for stricter traffic safety laws.

The site of Colin’s death is now covered by a set of red light enforcement cameras. Those cameras, due to a variety of problems the town’s contractor can’t seem to handle are STILL not able to issue tickets to violators.

Pleasant Surprise, with an unsurprising twist

Rumble strip rumblings

Will Route One get rumble strips whether we want – or need – them?

By Will Collette

Route One paving (from the Charlestown Police Facebook page)

Based on the long list of people who have submitted comments to the Charlestown Town Council and who will probably want to speak at the Monday, June 8 Council meeting, Charlestown has itself another hot issue – rumble strips along Route One.

Rumble strips are those annoying strips of concrete (or grooves in the asphalt) that line some roadways to make a jarring noise whenever a distracted or sleepy driver runs over them. Sometimes, they simply function as a guide to keep you within a lane, like those installed at many turn-arounds along Route One. They are loud on purpose to jolt the driver who crosses them.

That’s exactly what the fuss was about when RIDOT installed them along Carolina Back Road north of the junction with Route 2. Local residents complained about the jarring noises that sometimes woke them up at night. Those rumble strips were installed because the federal rural road money for the repaving job came with the mandate to install rumble strips.

On February 23, there was a special Town Council meeting with DOT for residents to air grievances. According to the minutes, DOT explained the Carolina Back Road strips were installed to comply with the High Risk Rural Road funding and there was some data to support the need. The question is whether the right kind of strips were installed.

But now, DOT is considering whether to install more rumble strips along Route 1 in Charlestown, even though there is no federal mandate to do so. I’ve gotten a lot of reaction from readers who oppose installation of the rumble strips along Route 1.

Red Light Cameras and red faces

Dim prospects for road safety program

After three years, contractor picked by CCA Party Councilors still can't figure out how to make its system work

By Will Collette

This is the camera covering the southbound lane of Route One at West
Beach Road (photo by Will Collette)

Whether you know it or not, Charlestown has two operational camera systems on Route One designed to catch motorists running the red lights at East Beach and West Beach Roads. Those four sets of cameras at the two intersections went “live” on January 6. The plan was to issue warnings for the first two weeks (until January 20) and then issue $85/no points tickets.

However, in the nearly three months between January 6 and April 1, not one single ticket has been issued to an offender and not a penny in fines has been collected.

As of April 1, according to Charlestown Police Chief Jeffrey Allen, 52 warnings have been issued to owners of vehicles filmed running a red light at one of those two intersections. These warnings carry no fine or points. In addition, that averages out to only one red-light violation roughly every 36 hours and that's way, way off of Sensys's predictions.

Chief Allen reports that the town’s contractor for the system, Florida-based Sensys USA, has had “some technical issues with the courts and RITT [RI Traffic Tribunal] approval” so no tickets are being issued.

CPD reports the red light cameras are FINALLY working

For the first two weeks, violators will receive warnings

By Will Collette

After a two and a half year delay, Charlestown's two sets of red-light enforcement cameras finally started operating Tuesday morning at 10 AM.

Charlestown Police Chief Jeffrey Allen says that “Tony Ruscito [contractor Sensys America rep] informed me that the red light cameras are up and running.  As per the original program the first two weeks will be a warning period.” That warning period will run until the 20^th of January.

These are two sets of cameras that will film cars running red lights while going either north or south on Route One at the intersections with East Beach Road and West Beach Road. During the warning period, vehicles caught on camera will get a warning. After that, violators will receive $85 tickets.

UPDATED: Things you should know about red light cameras in Charlestown

CPD Chief Allen answers questions about how enforcement will work

By Will Collette

Red light cameras are really coming to Charlestown. They have been installed at Route One and the intersections of East Beach Road and West Beach Road. They should be going live just after Halloween.

Charlestown Police Chief Jeffrey Allen responded to some questions I sent him so you will have the facts on how the traffic enforcement cameras  will work.

Whether you’re like me and think they will help deter the dangerous practice of red-light running or like the many anonymous commenters on the CCA Party’s website who think they are a sign of creeping socialism, these cameras are here.

According to Chief Allen in an October 6 e-mail, “Sensys [the town’s contractor] is telling me that it will be approx. 14 to 21 days before the cameras are up and running.   They are waiting for some additional tree trimming, etc.”

In my earlier article, I noted that three of the camera units are partially obscured by tree limbs.

The town will give residents fair warning and a chance to get adjusted. Chief Allen says:

"I plan on putting something on PD and Town websites. There will be warning signs posted prior to the intersections….[and] There will be a 15 day period where warnings will be issued.” 

CLICK HERE for CPD's new info-sheet on red-light cameras. According to this flyer, enforcement will go live on November 9. UPDATE: there is a TYPO in the CPD brochure listing the start date as November 9, 2015. The November 9 date is correct, but it's November 9, 2014.

Chief Allen described how the cameras will work:

Red light cameras are HERE! (Almost)

Get ready for new enforcement measures against red-light running

By Will Collette

FIND THE RED-LIGHT CAMERA BOX IN THIS PICTURE of the southbound lane of Route One at West Beach Road. Click on "click here to read more" to see where it is.

Over the past several days, work crews finally started to install the long-delayed traffic cameras at two of Charlestown’s four stop-light protected intersections – Route One at East Beach Road and at West Beach Road. There are two cameras at each intersection to cover both directions of traffic.

Most of the basic hardware was in by October 3, though the camera boxes are far from operational and actually seem to be empty. All four units are very hard to spot as you are approaching the intersection they will cover once operational. 

The idea of installing the cameras in Charlestown was spurred by the May 2010 killing of 27-year old Colin Foote of Charlestown right at that West Beach-Route One intersection. He was hit by Laura Reale who ran the light and hit Colin broadside. His mother was following behind Colin in a car. Reale, a multiple traffic offender, was sentenced to serve eight years of a ten year sentence.

Former Chief Jack Shippee started looking into cameras for Charlestown and found there were systems that could be installed at no cost to the town – the vendor would be paid from ticket revenue with the possibility of some extra revenue coming to Charlestown. But the Chief told me the reason he supported cameras was to deter red-light running, not the potential revenue.

The legions of anonymous commenters on the Charlestown Citizens Alliance official website – I call them the “Voices of Greed” – went nuts. The CCA Party posted dozens of comments attacking red-light cameras as everything from, as one person wrote “harbingers of failed socialism” to spawn of Satan. 

Charlestown Tapas

Eleven quick takes for busy readers

By Will Collette

Jobs – where they are, where they’re not

I’m going to lead this edition of Charlestown Tapas with jobs because it affords the opportunity to link several recurring topics. 

First, Charlestown’s overall unemployment rate is beginning to creep upward again. After a very encouraging drop to only 5.7% in June (a pre-Recession level), we’ve now had two straight months of increases in the rate which went up by 0.1% in August to 7.2%.

The actual increase in the number of Charlestown residents collecting unemployment benefits only grew by one person from July to August, but the number of people seeking employment (but not finding it) increased by 16. Our chronic unemployment figure has been running between 300 and 400 people for most of the year.

There continue to be non-profit jobs opening up. The best source for finding out about non-profit openings is RI Community Jobs, a free service of Brown University’s Swearer Center – click here to sign up for their daily e-mail).

The Literacy volunteers of Washington County in Westerly are looking for a part-time development and marketing officer. Click here for details. 

While I don’t normally list jobs in Providence, I happened to notice that Rhode Island Housing, an agency much hated by Planning Commissar Ruth Platner and her Charlestown Citizens Alliance colleagues, is posting two job openings. What a great opportunity for the CCA Party to gather intelligence on Rhode Island’s lead agency on affordable housing that also happens to be its blood enemy.

One opening is for a KeepSpace Coordinator (click here for details) and the other is for an administrative assistant (click here).

But the job opportunity that really grabbed my interest is for an “equipment operator” at the Millstone Nuclear Power plant, just over 20 miles to the west of Charlestown in Waterford, CT. I swear I am not making this up.

If you are a high school graduation or hold a GED, you can get hired to run equipment around the two operating nuclear reactors, start up and shut-down their radioactive waste storage system, read all those little tiny gauges, dials and switches, and respond to plant emergencies.

You will have to pass a test, but don’t worry, they even provide you with a sample test so you can practice (click here). Again, I am not making any of this up.

Here is the actual list of working conditions you might be subjected to if you get the gig: confined spaces, cold. dust/grease/oil, energized wires, fumes, heat, loud noise, operating machinery, outdoors, office work environment, pressurized lines & valves, and last on their list but hardly the least, radiation.

Charlestown Tapas

News nuggets for the insatiably curious

By Will Collette

Charlestown says it fixed open records problem but...

On August 5, I reported that an audit done on compliance by RI’s 39 cities and towns with the state’s open records law put Charlestown on the list of six non-comply towns. The audit looked to see if municipalities had the required trained individual registered with the State Attorney General as the person responsible for managing town records.

The issue of who has custody of Charlestown’s records came up a year ago when Town Clerk Amy Weinreich claimed she no longer had custody of the town’s lawsuit records and that only Town Solicitor Peter Ruggiero had those records. Ruggiero claimed he was not subject to the state open records law because, he said, he was not a town employee.

The Attorney General’s office ruled against Charlestown and specifically against Ruggiero’s claim that he was not subject to the open records law. Charlestown’s Town Charter designates only the Town Clerk as the official custodian of town records.

On August 1, I asked Town Clerk Weinreich and Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz to comment on the audit’s finding that Charlestown was out of compliance with the requirement to train and register a specific individual as responsible for records. Neither of them responded.

However, Stankiewicz told the Westerly Sun that Amy Weinreich had taken the proper training and that “it was a matter that the attorney general was not officially notified.”

According to the Sun, Linda Lotridge Levin, president of ACCESS/RI, which conducted the audit, criticized that answer. She said it was “troubling” that a town employee would take the training but fail to fill out to form to confirm that they complied with the training requirement. The Sun quoted Ms. Levin as raising this question:

“If they have neglected that requirement, how confident can the public be about their implementation of the substantive provisions of APRA when dealing with formal requests for records?”

That, based on my direct experience, is the key question.

Red light cameras due within the month?

Channel Ten recently broadcast a story that featured Robin and Maryanne Foote, parents of Charlestown’s Colin Foote who was tragically killed by a red-light runner in May 2010. The station reported that Charlestown’s long-delayed cameras to catch red-light runners were finally going to be installed “within the month.”

Charlestown Tapas

State Senate nail-bitter, and other tasty tidbits

By Will Collette

Cameron Ennis – despite break from BOE, still might not make the ballot

Cameron Ennis of Charlestown, a newly minted lawyer, filed his declaration to run as an independent against first-term incumbent state Senator Catherine Cool Rumsey. Apparently Ennis forgot to read the candidates’ rule book published by the Secretary of State and collected signatures on his Nomination petition without regard to where the signer lives.

The rulebook says each town within a district must be on a separate page so that the signatures can be turned in to the Town Clerk in each municipality – e.g. Charlestown signatures go to Charlestown, Richmond to Richmond, etc. Ennis simply turned in all of his 100 signatures to Charlestown Town Hall, thinking Town Clerk Amy Weinreich would take of this for him.

Wrong. Charlestown only validated the Charlestown signatures – 49 of them – leaving Ennis 51 signatures short of the required 100. Ennis appealed to the state Board of Elections and the BOE decided to cut him a break, even though he failed to follow the rules. They gave him an extra 72 hours to get his signatures from the other towns validated by the other towns.

Charlestown Dems complete their endorsements for state candidates

CDTC calls on town Democrats to support endorsed slate in the September primary

By Will Collette

I wear two hats in Charlestown, and not just because I’m bald. One hat is as co-editor of Progressive Charlestown. The other is as a member of the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee (CDTC). 

This is one of those occasions where I am reporting on decisions that I was part of making. It may not make for the best journalism, but so it goes.

After interviewing nearly every candidate running as a Democrat for state office, the CDTC finalized its list of candidates it recommends to Charlestown voters who go to the polls in September’s primary:

• For Governor: Clay Pell
• For Lieutenant Governor: Ralph Mollis
• For General Treasurer: Seth Magaziner
• For Secretary of State: Guillaume deRamel
• For Attorney General: re-elect Peter Kilmartin

Charlestown Tapas

Ten Tasty news nuggets for Progressive Charlestown readers

By Will Collette

Red light cameras slow in coming, but coming

When Tom and I first started Progressive Charlestown, we did so just in time to cover two big summer issues in 2011. One was the proposal to build new beach facilities at Charlestown’s two town beaches to replace the dilapidated facilities we had. 

The other was the proposal by now retired Police Chief Jack Shippee to find a vendor who would install red light cameras at Charlestown’s Route One intersections.

Both efforts were vehemently opposed by the Charlestown Citizens Alliance and its legion on anonymous commenters in its “Voices of Greed” screed. Voters didn’t listen and approved the money for the beach facilities which look great and are an asset to Charlestown’s tourist economy.

In May 2012, the Town Council approved a contract with Sensys, a company they picked because they thought it was Rhode Island-based, but is actually a Swedish company with its US headquarters in Florida. You gotta love Town Council Boss Tom Gentz’s due diligence skills.

Anyway, the deal was inked and has since overcome a series of obstacles. Among them was getting RI Transportation Department approval since all of the sites are on Route One, a state road. After another year passed, finally, RIDOT gave its go-ahead.