East Greenwich deal falls through for Ocean State Theatre Company

Several months ago we published a South Kingston Patch.com article about the expansion into East Greenwich by Theatre by the Sea operator, Ocean State Theatre.

This new Patch.com article explains how that deal fell through and alternate plans.

by Elizabeth McNamara

A Blizzard of Bad Climate News

If you want to get your grandkids something they'll be really thankful for this holiday season, fight to stop climate change.

By Janet Redman

I'm not out to Grinch anybody's holiday cheer, but we've got a serious situation here.

A tsunami of scientific studies is showing that global warming isn't only real, it's happening faster than we thought and our window of opportunity to act is shrinking. This is very scary stuff.

Even die-hard climate change deniers had to take their heads out of the sand briefly this fall, when a study commissioned in part by the ultra-conservative Charles Koch Charitable Foundation found that the average global temperature has risen by 0.9 degrees Celsius (1.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since the mid-1950s.

Charlestown wind energy policy doesn’t blow

Alternative energy: Charlestown-style
Deputy Dan Slattery thinks this is GOOD for you

It sucks

By Will Collette

While the rest of the world, and indeed the rest of Rhode Island, and in particular South County, moves forward to put wind power squarely on the list of new, non-polluting energy sources, Charlestown sucks fumes.

On November 14, the Charlestown Town Council enacted yet another wind energy ordinance, this time one that makes it virtually impossible to use wind energy to provide power to homes and farms.

The Planning Commission, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance, promoted their sham residential wind energy ordinance as a statesman-like balance between the public interest and individual rights. But all they did was pander to our town’s most fanatical element, the small band of radical NIMBYs who think that all wind energy is evil.

They may have the Westerly Sun fooled, but there are lots of people in Charlestown who see through this cynical – and backwards – attempt to stymie alternative energy’s progress.

Transparency and the Planning Commission

Lack of documents makes it difficult to judge the merits of the Planning Commission's proposed advisory to the Town Council on Gentz's proposed "evolutionary adjustments" to state affordable housing law.

By Linda Felaco

No documents were provided—and there’s still no sign of any on Clerkbase—for last night’s Planning Commission meeting to develop an advisory opinion on the proposed changes to the state’s affordable housing legislation. Given the importance of the issue, not just for Charlestown but the entire state, the absence of documents tends to diminish one’s faith in transparency. Not to mention it made it really hard to follow along as they haggled their way through their excruciating line-by-line edits of the document that they refused to post for public examination. Why oh why can’t they use Google Docs rather than sitting there marking up pieces of paper that no one in the audience can see. It’s clearly not for lack of equipment; Tom Ferrio made a very professional PowerPoint presentation at the last Town Council meeting.

But I digress.

Thankfully, no finger-drumming this time, at least. It appears Will Collette was right about it being George Tremblay. Tremblay must have read Will’s piece and took his complaint to heart, because he sat there with his arms crossed through much of the meeting.

OMG PD: Armed Robber Learns Quickly

We compile the odd, unusual and ‘oh my gosh’ police items from throughout the region.

·                                 By Scott Pickering

Robbery Suspect

A North Kingstown criminal who failed in his first attempted robbery apparently learned quickly, improved his tactics and succeeded an hour later in a second convenience store. The man walked into one convenience store wearing a hooded sweatshirt, ski mask and gloves and demanded money in the cash register – but showed no weapon. The clerk, after asking the suspect if he was "kidding," refused to empty the register. About an hour later, the man walked into a second convenience store – but this time he flashed a box cutter. This clerk complied, and the man ran out with about $200 in cash. Police released a video and audio clip of the attempted robbery and asked the public for help in finding the armed robber.

Helpful Cliches for the new economy

Laziness Craziness

By Jen Sorenson




For the full cartoon, click here.

No fix to the e-mail problem yet

Please bookmark PC and visit us every day
By Will Collette

The saga of the missing morning e-mail summaries continues into its second week. We now seem to have a largely localized problem. In the past several days, we have only heard from Cox internet subscribers that they are still not getting their daily e-mail summary.

Co-editor Tom Ferrio, whose technical skills keep Progressive Charlestown going, tried to devise an alternative system using a different route, but when he tested it, he discovered that this potential "fix" was also being blocked by Cox. Maybe the CCA (or Jim Mageau) knows somebody high up at Cox.

If you use a different internet provider and are not getting the daily summaries you signed up to get, please let us know by comment below, or through an e-mail to progressivecharlestown@gmail.com.

Look to Sweden for the true meaning of Christmas

Where you CAN play with matches
Plus, some great gift ideas
By Will Collette

My colleague Linda Felaco is slugging it out with Jerry the Anonymous in the Comments section over the meaning of  xmas. The trigger for the debate is Governor Chafee’s decision to call this year’s State House tree a “holiday tree,” something former Guv and uber-Catholic Don Carcieri did on two occasions.

This kind of argument has become an xmas tradition – devout Christians arguing that everybody else should abide by their religious lexicon during this season, even though there are many, many other religions who hold their own sacred ceremonies at this time of year. The right-wingnuts scream that left-wing pinko commies are conducting a “War on Christmas.” That it is a God-given right (their God) that public money should be used to pay for Christian displays and anyone who questions that, or points out that pesky clause in the Constitution, is going straight to hell.

Well, I’m not playing that game and have looked for – and found – a holiday tradition that I believe has the potential to satisfy both sides of the War on Christmas issue.

To be (anonymous) or not to be

Thomas Paine had a good reason for publishing
Common Sense anonymously—he could
have been killed for writing it.

This morning, irwinb posted the following comment (in part) on the latest missive from Jim Mageau:

“… I don't believe that you (or CCA) should allow comment postings from "anonymous" sources. When I read a comment, I want to know who wrote it, so that I can evaluate the comment and its source. If some one doesn't have the courage to disclose their name, then don't allow their comment. I hope you will change your protocol for blog postings.” [posted at 10:42 a.m.]

Irwinb of course makes an excellent point. When I first starting commenting here on Progressive Charlestown, I didn’t want to be anonymous because I felt that commenting on a “hyperlocal” blog would be a good way to get to know my neighbors. Little did I realize that by being one of the few people to comment publicly, I’d get roped into writing for the blog … but that’s a whole ‘nuther story.

By Linda Felaco

UPDATE II: Danger! Danger! Planning Commission meets again!

DANGER! The Planning Commission meets
on Thursday!

Affordable housing, shrubbery and parking on Special Meeting agenda tonight
By Will Collette

UPDATE: It's now past 4 PM. Town Hall business hours end in 20 minutes. And still none of the documents that will be discussed at tonight's Planning Commission meeting have been posted on Clerkbase. The meeting starts at 7 PM.


The three agenda items are the plan to destroy affordable housing law and two unspecified ordinances (I'm pretty sure these are the proposed shrubbery and parking ordinances I've already made fun of here.).


So much for that transparency and openness so dearly loved by Ruth and the CCA.


UPDATE: as of 1 PM, there were NO documents appended to the Clerkbase agenda notice for this meeting. This means Planning Commissar Ruth Platner has not allowed the public to see in advance the draft of the "Advisory Opinion" she will have her plucky Planners endorse to promote the Platner-Gentz Affordable Housing Deconstruction Act. 


I looks to me like Ruth has decided "to hell with transparency" and intends to give the public a look at her schemes only minutes before her minions vote to approve them.


She pulled a similar stunt at the November Town Council meeting, swapping out the version of the residential wind ordinance that was published in the Sun and posted on Clerkbase with a new version that the public saw for the first time at the meeting.


Remember these actions the next time you hear the CCA or Ruth talk about their devotion to transparency and openness. That only applies to others - not to themselves.

VIDEO: Serra has her day in court

Former Chariho Committeewoman faces judge, gets pretrial conference date
By Will Collette

Former Chariho School Committeewoman Terri Serra appeared in court today in the preliminaries over charges she faces stemming from the horrific car crash in Charlestown that left four Chariho students seriously injured. Serra is charged by Richmond Police under the state's social host program because the students were allegedly drinking at her home while she was present. She allegedly told the students who were drinking to leave, including the students who raced down Rte 112 and crashed.

The Farm Bill and RI Agriculture

R.I. Shares Its Thoughts on Federal Farm Bill

By DAVE FISHER/ecoRI News staff

WARWICK — Every five years or so, Congress reviews and restructures the Farm Bill. The bill is the primary tool of the federal government to define the role and purview of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and all its respective funding appropriations.

That time is upon us, and on Nov. 28, Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., hosted a roundtable discussion at the Warwick Public Library with the state's agricultural community to hear its complaints and concerns about how previous farm bills have been actuated in Rhode Island.

What if the Brits had pepper spray?

History, rewritten

By Matt Bors




For the full cartoon, click here.

Catherine Collette responds to Mageau attack

Mageau on the attack

Proud to be a union member
By Catherine O'Reilly Collette

After reading Jim Mageau’s attack on me and on my husband Will, I have this response:

I am proud to be a union member, as I have been for the past 35 years, including the 27 years I spent working as a union staff member. During my working years, I gladly paid into our union’s pension fund for the benefit of the retirees who were drawing pensions. Now I am retired and I enjoy the pension I worked for. That’s how pensions are supposed to work. As a pensioner himself, I would have thought Mr. Mageau understood the concept.

Jim Mageau's War of the Words

A review of Mageau's latest science fiction short story
By Will Collette

Progressive Charlestown published former Town Council President Jim Mageau’s latest attack piece because, as a work of fiction, it needed to stay whole. Just quoting from it would not do it justice. This is as close to really classic Mageau as you are ever going to get.

So, before you read my response, please read Mageau’s attack first by clicking here.

Now my response:

• First, I stand by what I write. I also put my name on it, though to his credit, so does Mageau, but that's where the commonality ends.