Hi everyone,
First, I’d like to apologize if sometimes reading this blog strains ol’ eyebones. Lines running together, links where they’re not suppose to be, weird spelling mistakes… the truth is I’m finding that wordpress is not the best blog editing tool. Good hostong service, but I’m looking for better ways to input and edit text and photos. If anyone has any suggestions, please send me an email. Thanks!
Our first article this week is a review of the first five months of Gov. Deval Patrick’s term in office. The column comments on Gov. Patrick’s personnel shakeups in the administration. It also discusses the proposal to build a commuter rail to Fall River and New Bedford (a $1.4 billion project), and his plan to offer free early childhood programs and free two-year community college diplomas ($1 billion per year), and his call to make the state a capital of science/stem cell research ($10 billion over 10 years). Critics note the state is already facing a $1.3 billion budget shortfall. 
“””””””””””””””””””””When pressed about whether he is overextending the state credit card, Patrick has replied with cool confidence.“No, no, no. It’s my job to make sure we can afford it,” he said recently.
“There will be those, there always are, who say we can’t afford this, that this is too ambitious, that the interests involved are too entrenched, perhaps that this is just too h-a-a-a-rd,” the governor said [at a UMass Boston Graduation ceremony], stretching the final word in a belittling manner.
“Those are the same voices who said that President Kennedy’s call to put a man on the moon in less than a decade was a folly, who said the United States could never win the Second World War, who said that America would never free her slaves, who said the colonies could never be independent of Britain, that America herself could never be born.”””””””””””””””””
The story also reports that Gov. Patrick “relishes getting outside the Statehouse, escaping Boston and drawing attention to the other 350 cities and towns in Massachusetts. If it’s Friday, count on an announcement or appearance in western Massachusetts — usually on a road leading to his Berkshires vacation home.” That’s great – when I was walking across the state collecting messages, a few of the people I met wrote that the governor venture west of the I-95 beltway more often. It’s good to see that Governor Patrick is getting out and about the state! You can see the whole article on the Telegram and Gazette online:
Confidence, dearth of details mark Patrick’s tenure by Glen Johnson of the Associated Press 2007-06-03
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In other news, a few weeks ago I reported that the Heritage Museum in Sandwich was running a special exhibition on pirates, named A Short Life and Merry: Pirates of New England.” If you’ve seen Pirates of the Carribbean 3 already and can’t get enough of the likes of Capt. Jack Sparrow, set yer sails for Marblehead, where the Marblehead Museum and Historical Society has no other head than the head of Captian Edward Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard.
“”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”It’s the ‘purported’ skull of Blackbeard,” said the museum’s Pam Peterson. On loan from the Peabody Essex Museum, it was donated to them by the widow of popular New England historian Edward Rowe Snow. “He purchased it in Virginia and used it on all his speaking tours.”It carries a kind of magic. Blackbeard, whose real name was either Edward Teach or Edward Thatch, is the most famous pirate of a very colorful era, according to curator David Moore of the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort.
By some accounts, Blackbeard strayed as far north as Nova Scotia during his pirate career, which ended at Ocracoke Inlet, not far from Moore’s North Carolina museum. He was beheaded by a sword swipe during a fierce shipboard battle with authorities. His bewhiskered visage was then mounted under the bowsprit of a sloop and brought back to shore.“From there, we can trace it as far as a pole erected at Hampton, Va.,” Moore said. “It was put on a pole between the heads of two other recently executed pirates.” These were meant as object lessons to other would-be pirates.
Later, legend holds, the skull of Blackbeard was taken down, coated with silver and converted into a ghoulish drinking cup used by college fraternities. Moore is skeptical that this artifact eventually found its way to New England. He notes that Edward Rowe Snow had a curious method of confirming the authenticity of his find.
“He said it spoke to him on a dark and stormy night. And the eyes glowed in the black.” But Moore adds, “Who knows?” He speculates that it might be worth making a facial reconstruction of the skull to find out what Blackbeard really looked like.Dan Finamore of the Peabody Essex Museum stresses that the skull is kept in the museum’s collection as an example of pirate folklore, not as Blackbeard’s genuine skull. “It’s a very interesting piece. … We haven’t done tests on it.” Having seen ancient photos of the “cup” supposedly made from the pirate’s skull, Finamore sees little similarity with this version.
Moore agrees that it doesn’t match what he knows about the dead pirate’s cranium. For his part, Finamore doesn’t want to lure people to see Blackbeard’s head under what might turn out to be false pretenses.
After all, that would be sheer piracy.”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
Yuk yuk yuk. Ye be warned. See it at your own peril. More information on the notorious cranium can be found here.
Blackbeard’s skull? See for yourself at Marblehead pirate show
By Alan Burke of the Salem News, 2007-06-04
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And finally, congratulations to the civic-minded students of Minnechaug Regional High School. For the last two years, they have been working with their administrators, teachers and State Senator Gale Candaras, researching safety in Massachusetts schools. They studied the legislative process, did the legwork to draft a bill (“An Act Relative to Student Safety”), and recently had the chance to present their testimony, on Beacon Hill to the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security.
“”””””””””””””””””””””If made into law, it would mandate every school district in the Commonwealth to work with local public safety agencies to develop and implement school safety drills for non-fire emergencies including terrorist attacks, chemical spills, weather emergencies, intruders and more. “Lock-down” procedures would be practiced regularly and schools would not only be made accountable for practicing them but also for better communication with local first-responders for developing plans and strategies for several emergency scenarios.
“It is extremely rare for high school kids to file a piece of legislature and make it to testifying in front of the committee,” said Bill Metzger, legislative director for the senator, who has personally been working with the students on this since February 2006.
The students strategized for months planning what they would say in their testimony to the committee, explained Gina Kahn, risk prevention services coordinator of Minnechaug. A critical part of trying to turn a bill into a law, this testimony was the one chance the students had to explain themselves and their idea before the committee made a decision on whether or not to advance the bill.
“They were very strategic in their approach,” Kahn said. “They organized in advance so that each student could focus on one highlight of the bill and it’s significance and they were able to do this in about a 30-second to one-minute time frame.”
Although the committee will decide their next course of action in an executive session, Metzger explained the most likely outcome will be for the bill to be sent to a committee to be researched and developed further. The other possible outcomes include the committee opting to amend the bill before passing it onto the full legislature, pass it on with no amendments and changes or not pass it on at all.
“Our district has been involved in a lot of safety initiatives in the past three or so years and in my mind this was as equally important,” Wilbraham Superintendent of Schools, Paul Gagliarducci, said. “I think it is important that every school in the state has a plan in the case that a dangerous person might come on the school grounds.”
Metzger credited the school on producing students with the ability to grasp the complicated concepts and technical terms of the legislative process as well as the foresight to predict and manage the challenges they faced.
“I think these students did learn that they can make a difference and it’s not always easy because the legislative process is a long and a complicated one but it does work,” Gagliarducci said. “They did get some excellent feedback from the chair of committee. He said they don’t usually get bills of this significance from students and he promised them that there would be serious consideration into the issue.”
“It was a pretty powerful experience to see our government in action and to sense the potential of the students voices in being part of that process,” Kahn added.””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
Two years of work is long time… Way to get involved and be persistent! Good luck to those students!
Students Take Safety Bill to Boston
By Danielle Paine of the Reminder, Found 2007-06-04
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And you’re probably thinking… “Wilbraham… why does that town sound so familiar?” Cuz it’s the home of Friendly Ice Cream! Don’t believe me? Drive the Mass Pike west to Springfield and look for this sign on the side of the road… You can’t miss it!
See y’all next week!
