Local news briefs

Watch out for this guy

You can read some pretty strange stuff in newspapers

By Will Collette

In the past few days, there have been newspaper stories about never-daunted Deputy Dan Slattery’s new transparency jihad; a string of complementary Sun pieces on Jim Mageau; the CCA’s worst nightmare and the Planning Commission’s odd turn on preserving Charlestown’s dark skies.

But first, BE AWARE that shotgun deer hunting season has started. 

Hunters and non-hunters – e.g., hikers, Cub Scouts, meditating nuns, etc. – must wear at least 500 square inches of orange fluorescent clothing above the waist and visible in all directions when you are in a designated hunting area. That includes portions of Burlingame Park. See DEM description of its hunting policy here. Be very careful out there.

Deputy Dan and his posse. Even though the Charlestown Town Council did not support Deputy Dan’s effort to get Charlestown to send Chariho a nasty letter telling them that we (i.e., he) can’t understand their budget, Deputy Dan is going ahead anyway.

"We just don't understand the budget"

According to the current Chariho Times, Deputy Dan has organized a meeting of the other two Town Councils to yell at Chariho School District superintendent Barry Ricci.

They will tell Ricci that from now on, they want the Chariho School budget to be only four pages long and to only use small numbers written very, very big. And no funny stuff like long division or multiplication. 

Jim Mageau is the Westerly Sun’s new rock star. When Jimmy gets on a roll, there is no stopping him. At least, that seems to be the Sun’s view of him. In the past week, Mageau was praised in a Sun editorial for raising “very important issues” when he slandered and smeared Frank Glista and others for what Mageau described as a criminal conspiracy to defraud somebody (not sure who) by collecting donations to support improvements at Ninigret Park.

As if that wasn’t enough, Mageau got a page one story over his big “victory.” The Attorney General’s office said that, technically, Mageau was correct that when the Town Council did Town Administrator Bill DeLibero’s job evaluation PUBLICLY on June 15, instead of privately in executive session as advertised, that breached the Open Meetings Act.

Amazing. Doing the evaluation for all to see, instead of doing it behind closed doors, breaches the open meetings law. The AG’s office noted the error was clearly not intentional nor warranted any official action against the town, and “recommended” the town re-do that evaluation, making sure that, whatever the format, they advertise it accurately.

In the Sun article, Mageau is quoted as saying he still might file more complaints and charges. Of course he will. These pieces ran behind the Sun pay-wall, so I can’t give you a link.

Charlestown’s worse nightmare. Watch for Deputy Dan Slattery to assemble the Charlestown Militia. Listen for the CCA and RI Statewide Coalition to sound the air raid sirens and ring the church bells.

The Providence Journal reports (page A-2 in their subscriber section) that President Barrack Obama has reaffirmed his commitment to help Native American tribes get the “Carcieri Fix” legislation passed through Congress.

The President’s remark came at an Interior Department tribal gathering. The Narragansetts were represented by Tribal Council member Hiawatha Brown.

The CCA and RISC believe that if the Carcieri v. Salazar decision is negated through legislation, it will trigger a domino reaction that will lead to most of Charlestown being absorbed into a giant casino complex.

Dark Skies: The Movie. What’s not to love about Charlestown’s amazing night time sky views of the heavens? Except for the horizon glows from Foxwoods, Westerly, South Kingstown, Providence and even Block Island, Charlestown is an oasis of dark.

That’s why, contrary to my usual inclinations, I thought the Planning Commission did a nice job writing a practical ordinance to protect those skies. Even though the PC is not authorized under the Town Charter to write ordinances.

They “finished” the ordinance early last summer and planned to take it to the Town Council “soon.” It’s now December, and there’s no ordinance in sight.

But instead, we have a new article about Charlestown’s dark skies in the December 3 ProJo (page A-3 in the subscriber section) that focuses on a movie that Ruth Platner and her plucky planners are showing all around town.

Yep, instead of actually sending the ordinance to the Town Council for enactment, they want you to sit through a critically-panned movie that instead talks about the problem of bright lights.

You can see the movie at Frosty Drew – check with them for dates and times. The ProJo article warns that while admission to the movie is free, seating is limited.

Spoiler alert: watch for Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart doing a cameo near the end.