More
Charlestown Tapas
By Will Collette
Return of the Gavle Goat
 |
| Before and after shots of the goat from 2013. The goat was torched on December 21. (The Local of Sweden) |
Regular Progressive Charlestown readers
know that each year, we track the progress of the Gavle Goat,
a well-known local holiday tradition in Sweden. For almost 50 years, the residents of
Gavle have erected a giant figure of the goat made from sticks and straw in the
town square to celebrate the yuletide. Then the town’s task is to protect the
goat from being burned down before Christmas.
Most years, the anti-goat faction wins
and the goat gets torched. There’s a live video feed you can see HERE,
as well as a Gavle goat blog.
 |
| Here's what happened to the goat's baby brother (The Local of Sweden) |
There’s also a smaller version of the
goat nearby, but according to the Goat’s blog:
"It's
been a couple of days since my last blogpost. The reason is anger and despair.
Since some hoodlums and vandals smashed my little brother to pieces last
Thursday night I've been too upset to write anything meaningful. I've asked
some kind and loving citizens of Gävle to help get my little brother back on
his feet. Hopefully he will feel a little better on Monday.”
Don't forget that Charlestown plans its own holiday conflagration at Ninigret Park on New Year's Eve. Hopefully, we won't let a puny little Swedish town like Gavle outshine Charlestown,
Rep.-elect Blake
Filippi’s favorite militia group gets kicked out of Ferguson, MO
 |
| Just what they needed in Ferguson |
One
of our new state Representative’s favorite client groups, the militia-style Oath Keepers, decided to do
their bit to foster community harmony by sending an armed detachment of
volunteers to Ferguson, MO to take up sniper
positions on rooftops to use lethal force to protect shops and stores from
looters.
They’re
such public spirited souls, they did so without even being asked, although
given the nature of the Ferguson Police, they might even have been welcomed.
But it turns out, the Saint Louis
County Police ordered the Oath Keepers to come down off the rooftops and get
out of town. Maybe Flip can find them some role in Charlestown.
Filippi gets
ultra-rightwing kudos for fighting Rhode Island version of “Orwell’s 1984”
 |
| Oh no, it's the Statewide Planning Police!!! |
Before
voters get a chance to send him back to Lincoln where he actually lives, I am convinced Blake Filippi
will be an embarrassment as a state Representative.
He got some headlines – and
a little national notoriety in the wingnut blogosphere – for joining with four
other conspiracy theorists in condemning the RI Statewide Planning Division’s
proposed long-term RhodeMap RI.
RhodeMap
RI is an effort to do some rational, long-term economic development planning,
something sorely lacking in Rhode Island, but their effort has become the Rhode
Island equivalent of Benghazi for Rhode Island’s radical right (which includes
our own ruling Charlestown Citizens Alliance).
Watchdog.org, a national
radical right mouthpiece, just ran a wild piece entitled “Is Orwell’s 1984
coming to Rhode Island?” Of course, they concluded that RhodeMap RI is
evidence that their fears are coming true.
Watchdog.org describes
RhodeMap RI mission as one that will “herd
low-income and minority residents into government-funded ‘growth centers’”
that are “open spaces in wealthy communities
that can be built up with housing accessible to everyone…. Government subsidies
would help move low-income, illegal immigrants
and previously incarcerated residents into homes and jobs accessible only to those of higher income and
education.”
But not to worry, Flip will make sure the Oath Keepers protect us.
Two local police
job openings
Here’s
one from Charlestown Police. From the CPD Facebook page: “The Town of Charlestown
is presently accepting applications for the full-time position of POLICE
DISPATCHER. Starting salary is $35,438.83. Job qualifications and requirements
along with the application... See More.”
South
Kingstown PD is looking for a Patrol Officer. From their RI Community Jobs
posting: “Application packages may be obtained at www.southkingstownri.com under
‘PERSONNEL’ or picked up at the South Kingstown Town Hall, 180 High St.,
Wakefield, RI between 8:30am-4:30pm, Monday – Friday. There is a non-refundable fee of $25, check or money order
(NO CASH) payable to TOWN OF SOUTH KINGSTOWN, with submission of application.”
Another
disappointing election outcome
 |
| From Fake Science |
Only
this time, it wasn’t a November 4 result, but union elections at the Millstone
Nuclear Power Plant which is only 20 miles to the west of Charlestown. The
electricians union has been trying to organize 429 of Millstone’s workers and
went to an NLRB-supervised election on December 3. The IBEW lost with 222
voting against and 183 voting for.
Union
workers tend to have better safety records than non-union workers, so this
outcome not only affects them, but the power plant’s neighbors and down-winders
like us. Millstone’s owner, Virginia-based Dominion Power mounted a full-blown
anti-union campaign.
A
good reminder of the stakes involved in nuclear power is the recent accident in February that led to the indefinite closure of the only
underground nuclear waste site in the US in New Mexico. Sloppy handling and
bad engineering caused the rupture of several barrels of high-level waste that
irradiated 20 workers.
The
state of New Mexico has
just levied $54 million in fines against the US Department of Energy
which operates the waste site. We’ll see whether they actually get to collect.
Watch out,
L&M and Westerly Hospital workers
Lawrence and
Memorial Hospital finished its fiscal year in the hole for the second
year in a row. Management blamed the costs associated with its fight with its
own workers last year – a strike and a lock-out that spanned the
Thanksgiving-Christmas season – in part for the negative numbers. Will this
lead to labor-management peace, or will it make L&M management act like
even more of a hard-ass?
The last major
lawsuit against Deepwater Wind dismissed
Now
that Deepwater has received all of its required permits for its pilot wind farm
off Block Island, the last hurdles were legal challenges brought against the
project by anti-wind NIMBYs.
On
November 12, Superior Court Judge Michael
Silverstein dismissed the lawsuit against Deepwater brought by Robert
Shields of Narragansett. Judge Silverstein ruled that Shields lacked standing
to sue. Shields says that he can appeal the ruling but has not decided whether
he will.
 |
| Whatever you do, DON'T stop! |
Does this sound
like someone we know?
I
don’t know how I missed this when it first ran (thanks to News of the
Weird
for flagging it), but Patch reported on an incident
in North Kingstown where police tracked down a guy who pulled up on women
walking or jogging down the street to tell them blonde jokes.
After some of the
women who didn’t enjoy his sense of humor took down his tag number, police
visited the unidentified man to tell him to knock it off or face arrest. He
agreed to stop.
Carcieris
finally start to make good on property deal
In
an earlier Tapas
tidbit,
I reported on a tax rip-off by former Governor Donald Carcieri on a piece of
historic East Greenwich property he and his wife acquired 15 years ago. The
site known as Olney Cottage was supposed to be the location for the non-profit
Academy Science Center.
Based on that plan and its federal tax exempt status,
East Greenwich waived property taxes, only to discover that IRS had revoked the
group’s tax status and that no progress had been made toward actually
converting the property into the promised science center.
The
town sought $24,000 in taxes just for the three prior tax years and the issue
made for embarrassing local headlines for the Donald that spurred him into
action. Carcieri claims they have
gotten reinstated by IRS and are making rapid progress on the building with a
planned opening in Spring, 2015. We’ll see if that actually happens.
South County
coal mines?
 |
| All that's left of the Coojoot Mine |
In
July 2011, I wrote a piece in
Progressive Charlestown on the history of coal mining in Rhode Island which
was, at one time, extensive with active mining in Cranston, Cumberland and
Aquidneck Island between 1808 and 1959. But not, as far as I could tell, in
South County.
Mainly,
Rhode Island mines supplied anthracite coal, known for its hardness and
high-temperature ignition. But local historian Ned Connors told
the Independent
about graphite mines that existed in South Kingstown near the Narrow River. The
Narragansetts took graphite, which they called “coojoot” and which white
settlers called “black lead” from a site near the Pettaquamscutt River.
Graphite,
the “lead” in your pencil, is pure carbon and is considered the highest grade
of coal (and is sometimes called meta-anthracite). It is very hard to ignite so
it isn’t used for fuel but for its other properties. Connors believes the last
graphite was mined in South Kingstown in 1903.
Some notable
coverage of the local scene
- Rhode Island Public Radio did a major piece on the consequences of climate change on our shoreline. It’s an interesting piece, focused not just on the beaches and tourism but more or less average types of homes threatened by worsening storms and sea level rise. Check out “Battle With The Sea: In Westerly, Beach Town Still Shoring Up For Future Storms.”
- The Providence Journal ran one of its rare pieces on South County by running an essay by Barry Bayon, “Native Americans shaped Rhode Island’s history.” He discusses the importance of teaching students early about Rhode Island history, particularly the story of Native Americans – how they helped white settlers survive and were repaid with near genocide. He speaks fondly of the Narragansetts and their growth and progress. I doubt he’s on the CCA Party’s special event invitation list.
.JPG) |
| Nancy Warner tending to her red wigglers |
- Local eco-entrepreneurs Nancy Warner of the Worm Ladies of Charlestown and Beverly O’Keefe, the Rhode Island Water Lady of West Kingstown, were featured in “Green gifts for the gardener” in the New London Day as great places to get gifts for gardeners on your holiday shopping list. Ms. O’Keefe (www.RIWaterLady or call 401-539-0667) is our top local purveyor of rain barrels and accessories, and Nancy Warner’s Worm Ladies (www.WormLadies.com. or (401) 322-7675 before December 21) is the place for non-invasive red wigglers and composting systems.
- Chariho got some nice coverage on RI’s NPR for its expanded foreign language program which now offers language instruction starting in Kindergarten. Grades 1 through 6 are now getting Spanish. Superintendent Barry Ricci said “It’s no longer a local economy or even a national economy, so if we are to be competitive as a country, our students need to be able to speak more than just English.”
- This isn’t local, but I am including it in this section anyway. According to Travel and Leisure magazine, Providence ranks #5 on their national list of “America’s Most Attractive People.” That’s the good news. The bad news is that’s a three-place drop from its second place ranking last year. Must have been wrinkles caused by the elections.