One mosquito pool trapped on October 9 in Warren had been previously confirmed positive for Highlands J Virus, a bird disease that doesn't affect humans.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Last DEM bug alert for the season
One mosquito pool trapped on October 9 in Warren had been previously confirmed positive for Highlands J Virus, a bird disease that doesn't affect humans.
CCA can dish it out, but can't take it
CCA candidates seem more disturbed by the spotlight than the
alleged lies
In her October 11 op-ed, Ruth Platner, a Charlestown Citizens
Alliance candidate for reelection to the Charlestown Planning Commission, has
joined her fellow CCA candidates Tom Gentz and Ron Areglado in attacking the
news, opinion and local events online journal Progressive Charlestown and me,
personally.
They do not like what they see reported on Progressive Charlestown,
and they do not like the way I write.
I guess it’s easier to attack me than actually run on their
records, or respond to the specific, documented information we publish on
Progressive Charlestown.
But, for the record, I’m not running for office. Platner,
Gentz, Areglado and the rest of the CCA slate are.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Grilled Oysters!
One of the things I
could eat a few times a week is oysters. I absolutely love them. My favorite
way to eat oysters is to slurp them raw with a mignonette. But when I tried the
Grilled Oysters recipe from Laura Blackwell’s new book “The Fisherman’s Table,”
I have to say that I’m hooked.
Blackwell, an
Aquidneck Islander, wrote her new cookbook in collaboration with the fishermen
of Newport and the Newport Lobster Shack. I love that it focuses on the seafood
that is caught in our local waters. Throughout the cookbook, Blackwell gives us
tips from the fishermen, explanations about the different variations of seafood
such as crabs and oysters, and she also focuses on local fruits and vegetables.
Excess nutrients kill salt marshes
From: David A
Gabel, ENN.com
Salt Marshes are marshy areas found near estuaries and low-energy coastlines.
The water can vary from completely fresh to completely salt water, and is
greatly affected by the tides. Salt marshes support diverse wildlife up and
down the east coast of the United States. They also serve an important function
in stabilizing the coastlines because the plant roots anchor the otherwise
highly erodible soil.
Unfortunately, salt marshes have been dying away over the
past 20 years without a full understanding of how and why. However, a new
report from the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, MA postulates that
the cause of the decline is due to excess nutrients seeping into the marshes.
These nutrients from sewer systems and lawn fertilizers, such as nitrogen and
phosphorus, have been shown to cause salt marsh loss.
Digging into Charlestown's dirt
October 27 workshop
From Charlestown's Worm Ladies
VERMICOMPOSTING WORKSHOP 10-12
WORM CASTINGS AND WORM BREW WORKSHOP
1-3 PM on OCTOBER 27th
Register Now
VERMICOMPOSTING WORKSHOP 10-12
WORM CASTINGS AND WORM BREW WORKSHOP
1-3 PM on OCTOBER 27th
Register Now
Contact
Nancy Warner
The Worm Ladies of Charlestown, Inc.
401-322-7675
wormladies@verizon.net
When
Saturday October 27, 2012 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM EDT
Where
South County Harvest
1958 Kingstown Road
South Kingstown, RI 02879
Nancy Warner
The Worm Ladies of Charlestown, Inc.
401-322-7675
wormladies@verizon.net
When
Saturday October 27, 2012 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM EDT
Where
South County Harvest
1958 Kingstown Road
South Kingstown, RI 02879
Push polling in Bizarro Charlestown
If you’ve visited the website of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance in the past week or so,[1] you may have noticed that for the first time in a few years, they’re conducting a survey. It was also emblazoned along the top edge of their election mailing: “These Local Candidates Want to Hear from You – Please Take Our Survey!”
Funny, any time I’ve corresponded with the current Town Council or spoken at a meeting, I’ve never gotten the impression anyone wanted to hear from me. Quite the opposite, in fact. CCA Town Council President Tom Gentz has never even so much as acknowledged my e-mails. In fact, I’ve gotten more replies from our Republican senator, Frank Maher, than I've gotten from our entire Town Council.
And previous CCA surveys have not had any observable effect on their policies or actions. Witness the CCA wind power poll, which showed substantial support for it, and yet the CCA proceeded not only to ban it, but they also fired former town administrator Bill DiLibero for moving forward with plans for municipal turbines in Ninigret Park—plans that were endorsed by Gentz.
But hey, people can change. Turn over a new leaf. Learn from their mistakes. So it was with great anticipation that I logged on to the CCA website to take their “Survey 2012” to let them know what I think.
Only to find out that the thoughts had all been predigested for me.
Has the CCA endorsed Tina Jackson for state representative?
Sure looks that way
 |
| Tina Jackson- the CCA's choice? |
By Will Collette
The Charlestown Citizens Alliance has never really liked State
Representative Donna Walsh (District 36).
In the CCA’s first electoral campaign
in 2008, the CCA
endorsed former Democratic state representative Matt McHugh, the guy Donna
beat to win her current House seat. Donna beat him largely because McHugh was a
classic DINO[1].
In 2008, McHugh ran as a CCA-endorsed independent who vowed
to continue his long crusade to win voting rights for nonresident property
owners in local elections and supported the rest of the CCA’s
regressive platform. Donna cleaned McHugh’s clock, even beating him in his home
precinct.
In 2010, the CCA didn’t endorse either Donna or her Moderate
Party opponent Tom Browning, even though CCA President Dan Slattery was serving
as state treasurer for the Moderate Party. Donna cleaned Browning’s clock, too,
winning every precinct in the 36th District including Browning’s
own.
In 2012, the CCA seems to be giving a wink-and-nod
endorsement to Donna’s Republican opponent, Tina B. Jackson. The CCA has
posted a laudatory piece that ran in the Block
Island Times about Jackson but pointedly ignored the companion piece
the Times ran on Donna. So much for
being “nonpartisan.”
So will the CCA make it official? Do they have the guts?
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
You can't “continue” something you’ve never started
A version of this letter was published in the Westerly Sun. To read the comments of our highly civil CCA neighbors, click here.
In an October 17 letter, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) Town Council candidates wrote that the upcoming election offers residents “a choice to continue with an open, transparent and accountable government.” I’d like to know how they plan to “continue” something they never started.
For the last two election cycles, the CCA has been promising Charlestown voters “open, professional and ethical government that is transparent.” Yet what we’ve witnessed from the CCA candidates elected to office has been anything but.
Hershey and Brunswick go home
Mystic Aquarium does a double seal release at the
Charlestown Breachway Beach
It was a gorgeous day at the beach for the release of two
rescued harbor seal pups who were cared for at the Mystic Aquarium’s Marine
Mammal Rescue program. I’ve been to several releases, but this was the first double
release. Plus, at five months old, these were the youngest seals I’ve seen sent
back into the wild.
There was a large and enthusiastic crowd on hand including a
lot of young school kids, many of whom take classes in marine life at the
Aquarium itself. Of course, the kids left after the release was over, to
Planning Commissar Ruth Platner’s great relief.
Why John Roberts Upheld the Affordable Care Act
While John Roberts may be a remarkably
malevolent force in American jurisprudence, he's no dope.
Health law's safe,
As it can be;
Now don't blame,
This Court on me.
As it can be;
Now don't blame,
This Court on me.
Many Republicans expressed shock, even betrayal, when Chief
Justice John Roberts himself turned out to be the Supreme Court's turncoat
Republican who upheld the Affordable Care Act. Pundits had predicted that
Kennedy could make that move. Not me.
Monday, October 22, 2012
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