Charlestown Short Takes

• DiLibero looking for work
• Sale pending for General Stanton Inn
• RI Monthly features Chief Sachem Thomas
• Larisa still tracking the Tribe
• Edward Tall Oak speaks at Yale conference on enslavement of Indians
• Buzzfeed on Rhode Island
• Charlestown’s ranking in Executive Compensation
• South County Hospital’s rating for quality
• Why do Adrian and Gillian Bayford want to give you a million dollars?

By Will Collette

DiLibero competes for Cohasset gig while Areglado campaigns for Czar of Civility

Areglado, Pontiff of Politeness

Former Charlestown Town Administrator Bill DiLibero, target of the CCA Party’s “Kill Bill” campaign, is a finalist in the competition to become Cohasset, Massachusetts’ next town manager. Among the other competitors are Grady Miller who was ousted as Narragansett town manager around the same time the CCA Party purged Bill, and Steve Hartford, who recently departed as Westerly town manager under a cloud.

The “Kill Bill” campaign ironically featured personal attacks by current Chariho School Committee member from Charlestown Ron Areglado. Areglado has been getting some press lately for his “civility” campaign at Chariho which would ban Chariho School committee members from engaging in the types of conduct that he, his wife Maureen and CCA Party colleagues flamboyantly practiced, and not just during the “Kill Bill” campaign. 

Just go back to the video of the first Whalerock wind turbine Zoning Board hearing to watch and listen to Ron Areglado personally attack ZBR member William Meyers. Click here for the video which, unfortunately, is not indexed. However, Areglado is the first person to speak from the podium.

Areglado apparently convinced Town Council Boss Tom Gentz (CCA Party) to issue the first veto of a commission re-appointment in the past five years by blocking Meyers’ re-appointment. This created a vacancy on the ZBR which was filled by a political patronage appointment of CCA Party blogger Mike Chambers to the Zoning Board despite Chambers’ demonstrated tenuous grip on the facts.

General Stanton Inn sale pending

Janice Falcone (l) with Rep. Donna Walsh

Congratulations to Janice Falcone for finding a buyer for the centerpiece of Charlestown’s historic district, the General Stanton Inn. Janice reluctantly resumed ownership of the Inn over a year ago when her last buyers not only could not keep up their payments to her (Janice held the mortgage) but also allowed the Inn to fall into disrepair.

Janice cleaned up the mess, re-opened the rooms and set the stage for re-opening the restaurant by getting that section into shape so it passed its Health Department inspection. The new buyers are expected to run the General Stanton Inn as a full-service hotel and eating establishment once the deal is finalized.

RI Monthly feature article on Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas

Chief Sachem Thomas (l)

There’s an interesting profile on Narragansett Tribe leader, Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas in the November issue of Rhode Island Monthly. Writer Casey Nillson spent a lot of time with Chief Thomas and, in my opinion, offers many insights into one of Charlestown’s most interesting and controversial figures.

Ms. Nillson had trouble getting residents who were not members of the tribe to talk to her. She tried to get an interview with Charlestown Town Council Boss Tom Gentz but he would only give her a pat statement (“We have a good working relationship with the tribe, until it gets to these other issues. But I certainly wish the tribe well.”) and then referred her to Charlestown’s Indian-fighting lawyer Joe Larisa. 

Larisa said the troubles between the Narragansetts and Charlestown were the Tribe’s fault. All Charlestown wanted was the Tribe to give up its sovereignty and efforts to put tribal lands into trust, including lands that were not part of the original tribal settlement lands.

Tom Ferrio and I agreed to be interviewed by Nillson and were quoted in the article. Tom noted that “It’s pretty easy to raise fears in people’s minds, especially when you’re trying to gain leverage in a political campaign.”

Nillson quoted my view of the prevailing attitude of our CCA Party-dominated town government: “The town says: trade sovereignty for [approval of Tribal projects]…We’ll green-light the [Tribe’s proposed elderly] housing, but you have to accept our dominion. And the chief said he wouldn’t give it up so cheaply. It’s the essence of who they are as a tribe; Charlestown has a hard time wrapping its head around that, and treats the tribe like it’s just another small business in town.”

Speaking of Indian-fighter Joe Larisa…

Joe Larisa

Many Charlestown taxpayers are probably not aware that, for years, the town has retained ethically-challenged former East Providence Mayor Joe Larisa as its special attorney to fight anything the Narragansett Indian Tribe wants to do. We pay him $2,050 every month just to be there.

I closely monitor Larisa’s bills to the town to see what we get for the money. In his bills for August and September and for October, Larisa charged Charlestown $6,150 for a total of eight hours of work (that works out to $769 an hour). 

He spent around 3 hours and 45 minutes watching whether Congress will be taking any action on the “Carcieri Fix,” a long-time CCA Party bugaboo that they somehow think will immediately lead to the Tribe building a casino on Route One (a paranoid fantasy, especially since the Carcieri Fix doesn't have  a chance in hell of passing).

Larisa’s bills also show that he spent around two hours and 15 minutes working on the Town’s strategy to thwart the RI Department of Transportation’s pending land transfer of the former Providence Boys and Girls Club “Camp Davis” land to the Tribe.

He spent the balance of his time on the town's stance toward acknowledging Tribal Building officer David Mars's standing to make building decisions.

Even though Joe Larisa has a reputation of nastiness toward Native Americans, the East Bay newspapers recently revealed Larisa’s softer side. Back in 2002 when Larisa was East Providence’s Council President, he convinced the City Council to rename the old Crescent Park (ah, the memories) land in honor of his mother. He voted (didn't recuse) with a 4-1 majority to rename the land for Mom.

The current City Council considered changing the “Rose Larisa Memorial Park” back to its original name of Crescent Park at its November 5 meeting. Larisa claimed that his mother alone was instrumental in saving the land for future public use.

Relatives of the other women who were part of the preservation battle differed, saying that Joe’s Mom was not the only leading activist. In the end, Larisa got his way and Crescent Park continues to be named after his mother. So whatever other conclusions you may draw about Larisa, at least he loves his late mother.

And of attitudes toward Native Americans… 

I think it would come as no surprise that many of Charlestown’s Native American citizens – and not just the members of the Narragansett Tribe – still harbor anger and distrust over past wrongs that have never been resolved. An example: 77 year-old Edward Tall Oak (given name, Wheeden) of Charlestown was a presenter at a symposium at Yale University on November 15.

Mr. Tall Oak is of Pequot and Wampanoag ancestry and was the only non-academic to speak at the conference on the enslavement of Native Americans, especially in the aftermath of the King Phillip’s War in 1675-1676.

When the combined colonial forces of the Connecticut and Massachusetts colonies broke the back of the uprising, and also slaughtered Narragansetts at the Great Swamp Massacre site north of town, many survivors were taken into slavery. Most were scattered across the English empire though some were owned by Charlestown plantation owners.

In The Historical Story of Charlestown, by Frances Wharton Mandeville (1979, Charlestown Historical Society), there is confirmation of the enslavement of Narragansetts and other RI tribes after the war. “In Rhode Island, slavery began in rather an unusual manner. Our first slaves were not Negroes….It is an unpleasant surprise that the first slaves in our colony were Narragansett and Niantic Indians.” [Page 24]. “The Indians were sold into bondage, the average price being 32 shillings or 12 bushels of corn….Charlestown’s ratio [in 1755] was ‘712 white settlers to 418 slaves.’” [Page 25].

Some Charlestown residents, in particular the leadership of the CCA Party, dismiss the injustices done to the Narragansetts’ and even the legitimacy of the Tribes’ existence, noting that many tribal members live in Providence.

Mr. Tall Oak had an answer for that kind of attitude. According to Tall Oak, “America’s been in a 500-year period of denial. [T]he first step toward reconciliation or forgiveness is acknowledgement. As long as this country keeps congratulating itself on what a great country it is...they’re still making the same mistakes.”

For something completely different

OK, if you want to check out something completely different than an exposition on the awful things we have done to our Native American neighbors, check out Buzz Feed’s “The 24 Most Rhode Island Things to Ever Happen.” It’s got some great stuff.

Charlestown ranked 18^th for executive compensation

Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz

According to a new survey published by GoLocalProv, Charlestown places at #18 among Rhode Island’s cities and towns for executive compensation.

The on-line journal looked into the compensation packages of municipal executives (mayors, town managers and town administrators) to make the rankings.

According to GoLocal, we pay Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz, who is three-quarters of the way through his first year as town CEO a compensation package worth $93,000.

South County Hospital still #1

GoLocal also published a survey of Rhode Island hospitals based on an annual nationwide survey of hospital quality. Once again, our own South County Hospital was rated as the best in Rhode Island and the only hospital in the state to receive an “A” rating in the national rankings.

Troubled Westerly Hospital was not ranked because it did not provide the data that would allow it to be ranked. As you may recall, Westerly Hospital, as well as its new parent, Lawrence & Memorial Hospital of Stonington, received low ratings in the last survey. I guess they decided it’s better to have no rating than a poor one.

Who are Adrian and Gillian Bayford and why do they want to give you $1,000,000 dollars?

NO, the Bayfords do not plan to give you a million dollars

If you are a person with an e-mail address, chances are you’ve received a number of interesting e-mails lately either directly from Adrian and Gillian Bayford, or from persons claiming to represent them. I get two or three a day.

These e-mails say that you've been selected to receive a gift or donation of $1,000,000. All you have to do is give them your banking details so they can send you the money.

Don’t!

The Bayfords are a British couple who recently won  £148 million in the EuroMillions lottery. The story is that the Bayfords plan to give away a substantial piece of their new fortune, more or less at random.

While it is true that the Bayfords have said they do plan to give away some of their money, these e-mails flooding the web and filling your e-mail’s spam box are totally fake. If you respond to these e-mails in any way, you’re setting yourself up for trouble. So don’t. Delete those e-mails immediately.