I had to rest a bit. ..

so to look at the news . . .

frm boston.com:

Star witness fails to deliver in CVS corruption trial
By Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer | May 31, 2008

PROVIDENCE, R.I. --When jurors took just 90 minutes to acquit two former CVS executives of corruption charges Friday, they delivered a rebuke not just to the prosecutors' case but also to the man who helped launch their investigation into influence-peddling at the Statehouse, who was supposed to be their star witness.

John Celona, the imprisoned ex-state senator, spent an uncomfortable four days on the stand in the now-concluded trial of John R. Kramer and Carlos Ortiz. He was pummeled with questions about his lies to the FBI, his false tax returns and a patchwork of contradictory statements.

His credibility seemed to be as much on trial as the two executives charged with bribing him for political favors. And his shaky performance raised questions about prosecutors' ability to rely on his help to secure future convictions.

"It was clear that he was caught in many lies," juror Debra Giampietro, 34, of Warwick, said.

Celona quibbled with lawyers over word choice and equivocated on straightforward questions. He drew frequent admonitions from a judge when his answers strayed off topic. His testimony at times directly contradicted his earlier statements, drawing a mistrial request from defense lawyers and prompting a judge to rebuke prosecutors for not disclosing that Celona had changed his story about a key aspect of the case.

U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente acknowledged the problem Celona posed for his office when he told the judge this week: "We couldn't be sure until it came out of his mouth exactly what he was going to say at trial."

Celona agreed to cooperate with prosecutors after pleading guilty to corruption in 2005, forging an uneasy alliance with the same office that put him behind bars and becoming a pivotal character in a continuing Statehouse investigation that prosecutors call "Operation Dollar Bill."

He's testified extensively in two corruption trials, but his willingness to turn on former associates for personal gain and his difficulty telling the same story twice have opened him to bruising cross-examinations and left him vulnerable to defense lawyers looking to make his credibility a key issue for the jury.

Ortiz and Kramer, accused of paying Celona to advance the pharmacy chain's legislative agenda, were acquitted of 23 counts of bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud. Scott Corrigan, a lawyer for Kramer, said the swiftness of the jury's verdict indicated their lack of faith in Celona's testimony.

"You get a witness who's so obviously changing his story as much as this guy and two defendants who didn't really financially benefit from their actions. If you're going to cut anyone a break, you cut those defendants a break," said David Zlotnick, a former federal prosecutor in Washington and an associate dean at the Roger Williams University law school.

Even as defense lawyers focused their case on Celona's credibility, prosecutors largely avoided broaching Celona's inconsistencies with the jury. Instead, they focused on documents that they said showed the executives directing Celona on what positions to take on legislation.

That approach worked in 2006 in the trial of two executives at Roger Williams Medical Center charged with illegally employing Celona. Prosecutors used a paper trail of e-mails and faxes to win convictions -- even though Celona was occasionally belligerent on the stand and displayed much of the same problems as a witness.

Those convictions were overturned because of flawed jury instructions, but prosecutors are retrying the case. Corrente was circumspect Friday about what role Celona would play in that case, saying, "We'll see."

Zlotnick said prosecutors would have to call Celona again because his absence would leave "too gaping a hole" for jurors.

Celona pleaded guilty to selling the influence of his office to CVS, Roger Williams Medical Center and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, getting credit for his cooperation.

He has met roughly two dozen times with investigators, made more than a half-dozen appearances before grand juries and testified extensively in two trials. His multiple statements give defense lawyers a voluminous record to pick through for inconsistencies and contradictions.

"Each time that somebody testifies, particularly somebody that has baggage like Celona, I think it only makes it harder for the government and easier for the next defendant," said Edward Roy, an assistant federal public defender.

In the CVS trial, for instance, he told a prosecutor he had done no legitimate work for CVS in 2000. But then a defense lawyer showed an old e-mail from Celona to Ortiz detailing work he had done.

He told a prosecutor he had not identified CVS as his prospective employer when he contacted the state Ethics Commission to get approval for the job. But then a defense lawyer pulled out earlier testimony from Celona indicating that he had in fact identified CVS.

Corrente vowed that his office's investigation would continue despite the acquittals. Another former lawmaker is already in prison, and prosecutors say they are pursuing multiple investigations against politicians and corporations.

"If anyone thinks we're going away," he said Friday, "they're wrong."
============

hmmmmm on the writer . . .Eric (see previous entris) and Tucker (ah - the engineer of the NX-01). . .

boston.com:

SEC settles with Analog Devices, CEO on options
By Ross Kerber, Globe Staff | May 31, 2008

Norwood chip maker Analog Devices Inc. and its chief executive finalized a settlement of charges that they backdated stock option grants from at least 1998 through 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission said yesterday.

Neither the company nor Jerald G. Fishman admitted or denied wrongdoing, the SEC said. The parties agreed to pay a total of $4.5 million in penalties and other payments. In 2005 the company disclosed a tentative settlement with the SEC over the same matter.

Stock options are rights to buy shares of a company in the future at the closing price on a certain day and were widely used by technology companies in the 1990s under old accounting rules that made them cheaper to issue than other forms of compensation.

But since 2005 academic studies have suggested many award dates were manipulated to benefit executives and other company insiders at the expense of shareholders.

In a statement yesterday, Analog noted the SEC did not find Fishman acted with "bad intent or recklessness" with respect to the main charges, and that it had previously found no restatement of its financial results was necessary.

According to a complaint filed by the SEC in federal District Court in Washington yesterday, on three occasions between 1998 and 2001 Analog granted options to officers and employees at lower prices than allowed by its option plan.

In one case, for instance, a company securities filing stated it granted options on Sept. 4, 1998, when its shares closed at $13.25 each. However, the company's compensation committee actually approved the grant on Sept. 8 after the close of trading, when the shares stood at $14.75, the filing states; Fishman "caused the company" to record the earlier date, with the lower price that made the options more valuable.

In addition, the complaint stated that on two occasions, in 1999 and in 2000, Fishman timed the grants to occur in advance of financial news he believed was likely to raise Analog's share price and thus make the options more valuable.

Neither Analog nor Fishman was charged with wrongdoing, the SEC said, noting the actions predated rules adopted in 2006 to require disclosure of the practice. As part of the settlement, Analog and Fishman also agreed to cease and desist from similar conduct and Analog agreed to reprice two of the three option grants to Fishman that he has not yet exercised.
================

ah . .. fishman . . . oy . . .

mainecoastnow.com:

Gasoline breaks $4 barrier in Camden-Rockland area



(Created: Friday, May 30, 2008 8:46 AM EDT)


CAMDEN — The cheapest grade of gasoline in the Camden-Rockland area has now risen above $4 per gallon in many cases.


A survey Friday morning, May 30, shows two gas stations in Rockland, one in Rockport, and one in Camden, selling basic grade fuel at $4, $4.03, $4.08, and $4.09.

Furthermore, the price for heating oil is also now being quoted above $4, even for large group purchases.

The Lincolnville school committee, part of a group buy of one million gallons for the coming winter, has locked in a price of $4.285.
=--------------

boston.com:

No Papa permits? No filming here.
By Judy Rakowsky, Globe Correspondent | June 1, 2008

On a Sunday at 6 a.m., the Massachusetts Avenue bridge is deserted, except for a lone actor on a bicycle pedaling furiously toward Cambridge. A helicopter film crew hovers above. Stationed nearby are 15 state troopers, eight police officers each from Boston and Cambridge, two fire engines, two ambulances, a Hazmat truck, and a State Police patrol boat tucked under the bridge.

It had taken dozens of local, state, and even federal permits and signoffs for filmmakers to pull off this opening scene of the movie "21," and its success hinged on the approval of one 29-year veteran of Boston City Hall: permit maven Patte Papa.

"Patte peeled the onion," says Mark Fitzgerald, one of Columbia Pictures' location managers for "21." Officials had feared the bridge closure would mean gridlock, especially if filming ran over on a night when the Red Sox were playing a home game against the Yankees.

But the film's location managers came up with a plan, and Papa, the director of the Boston Film Office, pressed nay-saying officials. "Without Patte, we would have had to find another shot," Fitzgerald says.

City officials now say that opening shot is more flattering than any ad Boston could buy. And the shooting schedule held, averting gridlock at the bridge.

Says Papa, "My motto is, 'It's Boston; we can do anything.' "

Patte "the permit" Papa, as some location managers call her, is listed in movie credits for films such as "Mystic River" and "21," but she stays far from the limelight. "I don't go to parties or premiers. . . . When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, that's me. I like getting stuff done."

There is a lot to do now. Papa, who just recently handed off walkathons and festivals to focus on film, stands at detail central of Boston's movie boom. Already in 2008, seven major motion pictures have been shot in the city, compared with eight in all of 2007.

Lured to Massachusetts by state tax incentives that were sweetened in 2006 to 25 percent for productions that do at least half their filming in the Bay State, films are shooting everywhere from art galleries in Rockport to an abandoned state hospital in Medfield. And it's the rare film that skips Boston, where classic brownstones, European architecture, and earthy three-deckers are camera magnets. That translated into 147 film-related permits handled in March alone, the total City Hall used to see in a year, Papa says.

Each big studio production comes with a base of 2,000 feet of vehicles: that's 10 18-wheelers, six pop-out double-wide star trailers, three two-room campers, five 10-ton box trucks, six vans, seven oversize pickup trucks not to mention the trucks and trailers for cameras, props, special effects, wardrobe, hair and makeup, and the honey wagon - the restrooms and changing rooms - according to Fitzgerald. Films with special effects and car chases, like "Surrogates," the Bruce Willis movie that's filming now, have up to twice as many vehicles, Papa says.

And almost everything needs some kind of permit - or permits.

"Patte knows what the city can handle," says Charlie Harrington, a Cohassett native who was a location manager on "Spenser for Hire" in the 1980s when Papa was the City Hall liaison.

For years, while Boston had no formal film liaison, Papa stockpiled knowledge as she oversaw events from the Boston Marathon to the gay pride parade. Now her experience is enabling the city to juggle multiple films at once, says Harrington, who managed such '90s films as "Good Will Hunting," and "Cider House Rules," and more recent productions including "The Departed," "21," and the just-completed "Mall Cop." He has been in charge of locations around the world, including locations for "Casanova," filmed in Venice.

"I might complain about what I have to go through to get a permit in Boston, but ultimately we get what we want," he says. "They're getting pretty good at making movies."

Boston is not like San Antonio, where filmmakers can have their way with an empty downtown after 5 p.m., or Jackson, Mississippi, where the mayor offered to close Main Street for a week to accommodate movie makers, Harrington says. That's why Papa instructs location managers to keep neighborhood groups informed, and makes sure they give 48 hours notice of parking bans or street closures. She also insists on the city's unusual requirement that films provide alternate parking to displaced locals at nearby garages.

The smart location managers listen to her. "I've learned that you do what Patte wants you to do, and get it right," says "21" manager Fitzgerald, who just managed "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" for a division of Time Warner. "When you've got three generations living in a three-decker in Dorchester or Southie, you can't go in there and boss them around no matter what movie star you bring," he says.

The city, in turn, has learned from each film experience. For instance, there were shattered windows and broken china in homes all the way to Chelsea after the intentional explosion during the 1993 filming of "Blown Away." As Papa says, "We don't have much blowing up since 'Blown Away.' "

Permits are the means of control, protecting residents from bright lights in their bedroom or truck backup noises at 3 a.m. And the paperwork requires studios to spell out everything they intend to use from the generators and electrical supply to which side of the trailer the actors' doors will face.

The location managers are supposed to keep Papa in the loop lest they repeat the sins of past crews, such as when "The Departed" crew threw a dummy in the harbor near the federal courthouse to see which way it would drift. A passerby saw the floater and called 911, sending police cars racing to a possible homicide.

On a Sunday night in Charlestown last August, shots rang out and pedestrians hit the deck. It turned out a small indie film was shooting on state property near Bunker Hill Community College and did not bother to get any firearms permits - needed even for blasting caps. It was too dark to read the tiny sign: "Filming in progress. Pay no attention to the gunfire."

The movie "Bachelor Number 2," since retitled "My Best Friend's Girl," is often mentioned by city officials for its faux pas, such as when the crew left behind a portable toilet for a week last August directly under the open window of a Back Bay stalwart. The same film crew left a hydraulic lift in the middle of the Commonwealth Avenue mall for more than a week.

Sometimes infractions become more problematic. In April, "Bride Wars" ran over its permit on the first night of shooting on Newbury Street by two hours; the following night it ran even later, prompting police Sergeant Mike O'Connor, the film liaison, to shut down the film for the night. A week later, "Bride Wars" asked to shoot a second day at a location without the legally required notice to neighbors. Papa said no, and the film had to shoot another location where the permits were in order.

"Ashecliffe," the thriller Martin Scorcese is currently directing, earlier this year failed to apply for welding sets in a Hyde Park warehouse. A building inspector and a fire chief discovered the fire code violations on a March visit to the set and ordered Paramount to hire a fire detail and comply with the city's stringent code. But the studio balked at the fire detail, Papa says, and next she got a call from a Boston city councilor who had been asked by the studio to try to intervene on its behalf. Papa says the councilor did not press the case when he heard the details, and the city did not relent.

"I'm not about to go against public safety, and neither is the mayor," she says. It didn't help that the location was blocks from Menino's house. "That's just what I need: an explosion in the mayor's backyard," she says.

Spokesmen for "Ashecliffe" have declined comment.

Boston used to be known throughout the industry as a tough place to film, back when the Teamsters weren't cooperative and City Hall was less gung-ho. And Boston residents still have a reputation from "The Brinks Job" in the 1970s, when a film scout paid a North End apartment resident $100 to remove his window air conditioner for a scene set in the 1950s. The next day, the film crew returned to find air conditioners - or cardboard facsimiles - in every window. Each resident was ready for his $100.

Studios look for permitting authorities they can work with, says Nick Paleologos, executive director of the Massachusetts Film Office. "We have not lost a movie because of any bad experiences, and it used to happen all the time," he says. "The worst thing you can do with a film spending $350,000 a day is put them in an uncertain situation. . . . Film executives are allergic to uncertainty."

That doesn't happen with Papa as the point person, according to Paleologos. Studios are voting with their feet: Columbia and Disney each are filming a second movie here within a year, he says.

Boston is currently trying to streamline the movie permitting that funnels through Papa, who keeps many of the site plans, permit applications, and the who's who of the crews all in her head. Also, the film rush is expected to abate temporarily because studios have been hurrying to complete projects in the pipeline ahead of a possible strike when the contract between the Screen Actors Guild and the major studios expires June 30.

That would give City Hall a breather. O'Connor, the police sergeant, who traveled to New York last fall to take notes on how Manhattan deals with the constant demands of film and television crews, says he plans to return this summer and refine proposals for Boston to better manage film parking and traffic.

Papa says she is adamant that no matter how busy it gets, Boston will not follow New York's example of imposing filming blackouts in neighborhoods overrun by film crews.

"We don't do that. We never say no," she says. "This is Boston, we can do anything."
=================

bostonherald.com:

Entwistle defense wants sleazy details quashed

By Joe Dwinell | Saturday, May 31, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage

Photo by Pool
Neil Entwistle’s defense team yesterday moved to quash evidence that the double-murder suspect was a porn-obsessed deviant desperately trolling the Internet for sexual thrills because he was no longer satisfied by his wife.

Attorney Elliot Weinstein argued turning to steamy online porn sites is not necessarily an indication of a joyless sex life; it could also mean a couple was looking to spice up their marriage.

“It might improve sexual activity . . . it might be a curiosity,” Weinstein said during the final pretrial arguments in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn.

Searching for porn may just be for “interest,” or “excitement” or to “expand knowledge,” Weinstein added in his appeal to strike any online sex surfing as evidence of prior “bad acts.”

Weinstein slammed the prosecution’s “slant” against Entwistle, 29, who allegedly visited sex escort sites and even purportedly posted a nude photo of himself on a sex-swapping site called Adult Friend Finder.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Fabbri countered that argument, saying, “We’re offering what was going on in the mind of the defendant in and around the time of the crimes.”

Entwistle is accused of executing his wife, Rachel, 27, and baby girl, Lillian Rose, 9 months, on Jan. 20, 2006, in their rented home in Hopkinton. He allegedly stole a .22 caliber pistol from his in-law’s Carver home.

Judge Diane Kottmyer denied Weinstein’s motion to dismiss the case or move it to Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. Weinstein argued press coverage has tainted the jury pool.

Kottmyer did say the defense could appeal for a change of venue again if seating an impartial jury proves to be impossible.

Entwistle, sporting a fresh haircut and dark suit and blue tie, smiled in the direction of his wife’s family, sitting in somber silence on the opposite side of the courtroom.

Jury selection is set to begin Monday.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1097643
==========

nytimes.com:

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome No Longer Seen as ‘Yuppie Flu’
By DAVID TULLER

Heidi Schumann for the New York Times.

Donna Flowers was once debilitated by chronic fatigue but has tamed her disease with exercise and treatment.

For decades, people suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome have struggled to convince doctors, employers, friends and even family members that they were not imagining their debilitating symptoms. Skeptics called the illness “yuppie flu” and “shirker syndrome.”

But the syndrome is now finally gaining some official respect. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which in 1999 acknowledged that it had diverted millions of dollars allocated by Congress for chronic fatigue syndrome research to other programs, has released studies that linked the condition to genetic mutations and abnormalities in gene expression involved in key physiological processes.

The agency has also sponsored a $6 million public awareness campaign about the illness. And last year, it released survey data suggesting that the prevalence of the syndrome is far higher than previously thought, although these findings have stirred controversy among patients and scientists.

Some scientists and many patients remain highly critical of the C.D.C.’s record on chronic fatigue syndrome. But nearly everyone now agrees that the syndrome is real.

“People with C.F.S. are as sick and as functionally impaired as someone with AIDS, with breast cancer, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,” said Dr. William Reeves, the lead expert on the illness at the disease control agency, who helped expose its misuse of chronic fatigue financing.

Chronic fatigue syndrome was first identified as a distinct entity in the 1980s. (A virtually identical illness had been identified in Britain three decades earlier and called myalgic encephalomyelitis.) The illness, which afflicts more women than men, causes overwhelming fatigue, sleep disorders and other severe symptoms. No consistent biomarkers have been identified and no treatments have been approved for addressing the underlying causes, although some medications provide symptomatic relief.

Patients say the word “fatigue” does not begin to describe their condition. Donna Flowers of Los Gatos, Calif., a physical therapist and former professional figure skater, said the profound exhaustion was unlike anything she had ever experienced.

“I slept for 12 to 14 hours a day but still felt sleep-deprived,” said Ms. Flowers, 51, who fell ill several years ago after a bout of mononucleosis. “I had what we call ‘brain fog.’ I couldn’t think straight, and I could barely read. I couldn’t get the energy to go out of the door. I thought I was doomed. I wanted to die.”

Studies have shown that people with the syndrome experience abnormalities in the central and autonomic nervous systems, the immune system, cognitive functions, the stress response pathways and other major biological functions. Researchers believe the illness will ultimately prove to have multiple causes, including genetic predisposition and exposure to microbial agents, toxins and other physical and emotional traumas. Studies have linked the onset of chronic fatigue syndrome with an acute bout of Lyme disease, Q fever, Ross River virus, parvovirus, mononucleosis and other infectious diseases.

“It’s unlikely that this big cluster of people who fit the symptoms all have the same triggers,” said Kimberly McCleary, president of the Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome Association of America, the advocacy group in charge of the C.D.C.-sponsored awareness campaign. “You’re looking not just at apples and oranges but pineapples, hot dogs and skateboards, too.”

Under the most widely used case definition, a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome requires six months of unexplained fatigue as well as four of eight other persistent symptoms: impaired memory and concentration, sore throat, tender lymph nodes, muscle pain, joint pain, headaches, disturbed sleeping patterns and feelings of malaise after exertion.

The broadness of the definition has led to varying estimates of the syndrome’s prevalence. Based on previous surveys, the C.D.C. has estimated that more than a million Americans have the illness.

Last month, however, the agency reported that a randomized telephone survey in Georgia, using a less restrictive methodology to identify cases, found that about one in 40 adults ages 18 to 59 met the diagnostic criteria — an estimate 6 to 10 times higher than previously reported rates.

Many patients and researchers fear that the expanded prevalence rate could complicate the search for consistent findings across patient cohorts. These critics say the new figures are greatly inflated and include many people who are likely to be suffering not from chronic fatigue syndrome but from psychiatric illnesses.

“There are many, many conditions that are psychological in nature that share symptoms with this illness but do not share much of the underlying biology,” said John Herd, 55, a former medical illustrator and a C.F.S. patient for two decades.

Researchers and patient advocates have faulted other aspects of the C.D.C.’s research.

Dr. Jonathan Kerr, a microbiologist and chronic fatigue expert at St. George’s University of London, said the agency’s gene expression findings last year were “rather meaningless” because they were not confirmed through more advanced laboratory techniques.

Kristin Loomis, executive director of the HHV-6 Foundation, a research advocacy group for a form of herpes virus that has been linked to C.F.S., said studying subsets of patients with similar profiles was more likely to generate useful findings than Dr. Reeves’s population-based approach.

Dr. Reeves responded that understanding of the disease and of some newer research technologies is still in its infancy, so methodological disagreements were to be expected. He defended the population-based approach as necessary for obtaining a broad picture and replicable results. “To me, this is the usual scientific dialogue,” he said.

Dr. Jose G. Montoya, a Stanford infectious disease specialist pursuing the kind of research favored by Ms. Loomis, caused a buzz last December when he reported remarkable improvement in 9 out of 12 patients given a powerful antiviral medication, valganciclovir. Dr. Montoya has recently completed a randomized controlled trial of the drug, which is approved for other uses, but the findings have not been released.

Dr. Montoya said some cases of the syndrome were caused when an acute infection set off a recurrence of latent infections of Epstein Barr virus and HHV-6, two pathogens that most people are exposed to in childhood. Ms. Flowers, the former figure skater, had high levels of antibodies to both viruses and was one of Dr. Montoya’s initial C.F.S. patients.

Six months after starting treatment, Ms. Flowers said, she was able to go snowboarding and take yoga and ballet classes. “Now I pace myself, but I’m probably 75 percent of normal,” she said.

Many patients point to another problem with chronic fatigue syndrome: the name itself, which they say trivializes their condition and has discouraged researchers, drug companies and government agencies from taking it seriously. Many patients prefer the older British term, myalgic encephalomyelitis, which means “muscle pain with inflammation of the brain and spinal cord,” or a more generic term, myalgic encephalopathy.

“You can change people’s attributions of the seriousness of the illness if you have a more medical-sounding name,” said Dr. Leonard Jason, a professor of community psychology at DePaul University in Chicago.

Updated from an article that originally appeared in The New York Times on July 17, 2007.
===============================

villagesoup.com:

Rockland zoning board approves tower for Old County Road

By Leanne M. Robicheau
VillageSoup/Knox County Times News Editor
ROCKLAND (May 30): The Rockland Zoning Board of Appeals approved a variance Thursday that allows the property at 360 Old County Road to have an 82-foot communications tower built on that site.

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The approval was site-specific for a 70-foot tower with a 15-foot whip, which would only extend 12 feet above the tower. The overall height is 82 feet, said Dave Kalloch, assistant code enforcement officer, on Friday.

The request was made by Blue Griffon LLC, which has an option to purchase the property and has a lease agreement with Knox County. The county intended to move its sheriff's patrol division, emergency communications center and emergency management agency office to the Old County Road building.

On Wednesday, however, Knox County commissioners voted unanimously to terminate the agreement, following an executive session. The grounds for withdrawing from the lease were that the renovation and equipment moving costs exceeded what the county was willing to pay.

The lease agreement contained contingencies that allowed the county to back out if Blue Griffon could not obtain a permit for the communications tower and/or if the county's share of the renovation and equipment moving costs were too much.

Blue Griffon had not received any formal notification from Knox County that the lease agreement had been terminated, said Doug Erickson of Coldwell Banker/SoundVest Properties on Friday. Erickson is the real estate broker handling business for Blue Griffon.

On Friday, County Administrator Andrew Hart said that on Thursday he sent certified letters to Blue Griffon and Lewiston attorney Shawn Bell informing them of the commissioners' vote to terminate.

What, if anything, will happen next was unclear.

The process of obtaining permission for a tower permit has been lengthy with multiple meetings with the planning board, zoning board and city council.

An ordinance amendment went before the city council in first reading on May 12 and was approved. The amendment allows towers and their necessary mechanical appurtenances, such as antennae, owned or used exclusively by a governmental entity for E-911 and/or emergency management communications to be any height not exceeding 90 feet. Following a public hearing Wednesday, the council unanimously approved the change, which becomes effective in 30 days.


=========

villagesoup./com:

Rite Aid buys Waltz pharmacies in Camden, Belfast, Pittsfield

By Holly S. Anderson
VillageSoup/Knox County Times Senior Reporter
CAMDEN (May 30): Waltz Pharmacy Inc. President Dean Jacobs announced Friday the sale of its prescription divisions in Camden and Belfast to Rite Aid Pharmacy.

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The Waltz Pharmacy in Pittsfield is also involved in the sale.

Patricia Janczura, human resources officer with Waltz Pharmacy in Camden, said the sale involves the company's prescription business only.

"Rite Aid is not taking over our locations, only the prescription businesses," said Janczura. "All of our prescription records will be turned over to Rite Aid by our closing date and customers' prescriptions can be filed without interruption at Rite Aid should they choose to."

The official closing date of Waltz pharmacies in Camden and Belfast will be June 12. The Pittsfield location will close June 11.



Waltz Pharmacy in Belfast is located on Route 3 in the Renys Plaza. (Photo by Beth Staples)



According to Waltz company officials, the Waldoboro and Damariscotta locations, as well as the Camden home medical equipment operation, will remain open. The Long Term Care Pharmacy in Topsham will also remain in operation.

According to Janczura, Rite Aid expects to make employment offers to most of Waltz Pharmacy’s affected employees.

Waltz employees learned of the news Friday morning.

Terri Belyea, manager of the Camden Waltz Pharmacy, called Friday's announcement to employees a shock. She said there had been rumors, and they knew there was an employee meeting called for Friday morning, but the news hit hard.

"I've been through this twice," said Belyea. "The first sale, from Camden Drug to Waltz, was not so bad as it was a long time in the making and everybody stayed in their jobs. But this time it's not so easy."

What's likely "not so easy" is that the Waltz Pharmacy in Camden will focus on the home medical supply business, expanding its offering of things such walkers and commodes, which it will offer to the Waltz Pharmacy customers in Belfast too.

For the pharmacists and others not involved in the home medical business, it will mean moving, either to a new job at Rite Aid or elsewhere in the community.

Janczura said the number of jobs the sale affects is six in Camden and 11 in Belfast. Of Camden's six, Janczura said two are part-time positions while in Belfast, four are part-time positions.

"We do expect those employees to get job offers with the new company," said Janczura.

The home medical business will employ a full staff and will become the focus of Waltz Pharmacy in Camden. There are plans to expand the inventory as well as to continue to deliver.

"We hope to continue to service the Belfast customers through the Camden office with what they need," said Janczura.

Janczura said the decision to sell a part of Waltz's business was driven by the competitive nature of prescription sales.

"People think you can be competitive on price but with the price we pay for them and the way the system is set up, we can't be competitive," said Janczura.

In a press release Friday morning, Jacobs also cited increasing competitive pressures, as well as reductions in Mainecare reimbursement rates and the shortage of pharmacists as factors in his decision.

"I feel that with fewer, well-performing stores, Waltz Pharmacy can continue to be the 'Hometown Health and Wellness Centers' in their communities," Jacobs said. "My family and I are deeply grateful for the patronage of all of our customers, and trust that any of our staff members who accept employment with Rite Aid will continue to serve them well."


============

hmmmm . . .


nytimes.com:

May 31, 2008
U.S. Weakness Remains Threat to Global Economy: Draghi
By REUTERS
Filed at 4:47 p.m. ET

ROME (Reuters) - The global economy is threatened by continuing weaknesses in the U.S. economy and rising energy and raw materials prices, European Central Bank Governing Council member Mario Draghi said on Saturday.

Draghi told a Bank of Italy meeting that ECB policy remained "firmly focused on the objective of price stability."

"The greatest threat to the world economy now comes from the build-up of inflationary pressures and the possible worsening of the American slowdown," Draghi, who is also Bank of Italy governor, said, according to a text released in advance.

Noting that euro zone inflation rose to an average 3.3 percent in the first quarter, Draghi said: "The latest figures point to a further acceleration."

Data released on Friday showed euro zone inflation surged to 3.6 percent in May.

"Nevertheless, the rise in domestic prices has remained modest and no wage-price spiral has developed to date," he said.

"Today the European Central Bank is keeping monetary policy firmly focused on the objective or price stability over the medium term," he added.

========

washingtonpost.com:

Pentagon Overseer Calls for Larger Staff
Inspector General Says That Shortages Leave Spending Largely Unchecked

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 1, 2008; A11



The Defense Department's inspector general says he needs more staff and money to monitor sharply rising spending by the Pentagon on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the broader fight against terrorism.

While that spending increased by more than 50 percent between fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2007, Inspector General Claude M. Kicklighter's staff has remained relatively constant, according to a report his office sent to Congress on March 31 that was made public last week.

"The rapid growth of the DoD budget since FY 2000 leaves the Department increasingly more vulnerable to the fraud, waste, and, abuse that undermines the Department's mission," the report said.

In seeking an additional $25 million above the Bush administration request for next year's budget, the Kicklighter report said the funds are "directly linked to requests by Congress to increase both audit and investigative efforts regarding Southwest Asia and the Global War on Terror."

The Pentagon budget increased from slightly more than $400 billion in fiscal 2001 to more than $600 billion in fiscal 2007. Over the next seven years, the inspector general wants about a 25 percent increase in his staff, from about 1,500 at present to near 1,900 in 2013, to monitor the spending.

Last week, an inspector general's report to a House committee showed that $1.4 billion in spending between 2001 and 2006 "lacked minimum supporting documentation." For example, it said, a $320 million cash payment by U.S. military officials to an Iraqi ministry had no backup material identifying the ministry or the employees paid.

The Senate Armed Services Committee, which ordered the report last year, has recommended adding $26 million for the inspector general's office in the fiscal 2009 defense authorization bill that is now before Congress.

The report says that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have "forced us to adjust priorities, resulting in gaps in coverage in important areas such as major weapon systems acquisition, wrongdoing by senior officials, whistleblower protection, health care fraud, product substitution and Defense intelligence agencies."

Even with the shifting of assets, the report said that the inspector general at present deploys only two investigative agents for six-month tours in Baghdad, Kuwait City and Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. With additional personnel, Kicklighter could create a field office with a more permanent staff, the reports said.

"The Pentagon's top cop is outgunned, and it's high noon," said Nick Swellenbach of the Project on Government Oversight, the nonprofit watchdog group that released the inspector general's report.

The report said Kicklighter's office is "not able to provide adequate audit coverage of DoD acquisition programs given the dollars expended by the department." It noted that for major weapons contracts that totaled $316 billion in fiscal 2007, resources allowed the auditing of just 58 programs valued at $164 billion.

As Pentagon contracting has increased, the number of auditors in the field has decreased, according to the report. In fiscal 2003, when the total value of Pentagon contracts was about $240 billion, the inspector general had about 180 auditors to review them. In fiscal 2007, when the contracts' value reached more than $300 billion, the number of auditors had dropped to about 150, according to the report.

"Oversight of DoD contracts needs to be strengthened," the report said.

In addition, the number of allegations of wrongdoing by senior Pentagon officials and reprisal complaints received from whistle-blowers has "greatly increased over the past years," the inspector general reported, while the staff in his office available to handle such complaints has "remained static or decreased."

Complaints of reprisals against military whistle-blowers have increased 68 percent in 10 years, from 315 to 528, but staffing to receive the complaints has decreased from 22 to 19, he said.

The report said that "18% of substantiated allegations against senior officials resulted in immediate removal from command, reprimands, reduction in rank and reimbursement to the government."

With 40 full-time employees in the intelligence field, the report said, "we have not been able to perform planned audits and evaluations in key intelligence disciplines." It cited intelligence satellites that gather imagery, electronic and other transmissions and cost billions of dollars to construct and operate.

======

washingtonpost.com:

Different State Of Race Relations
With Few Blacks, Utah Feels Its Way

By Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 31, 2008; A01



SALT LAKE CITY -- Earlier this year, a state senator stood on the statehouse floor here and spoke disparagingly of a pending bill. "This baby is black," said Sen. Chris Buttars, a Republican, adding, "It's a dark, ugly thing."

Weary of talking about race? Come to the Beehive State, where race relations is a topic of bracing freshness.

Here, basic issues of sensitivity -- what is spoken of aloud and what is best left unsaid, assumptions good and bad, all the delicate matters that in so many parts of the country have been burnished to exquisite subtleties by worry and constant attention -- are still very basic indeed.

Take what happened to Tamu Smith.

Smith was in cosmetology class when she felt a hand on her head. A classmate was handling her hair.

"And I said, 'Don't ever touch my hair without asking me,' " Smith said. "And she was like, 'Well, I can touch your hair.' And I was like, 'What?' And she was like, 'I can touch your hair because I've never touched black people's hair before.' "

It was after a supervisor was summoned that, as Smith recalls, the classmate whined a question that, a decade later, still strikes at the poignant and suddenly timely essence of being black in Utah: "If I don't get to touch Tamu's hair, then what black person's hair am I ever going to touch?"



While Buttars's cutting remark about an offending piece of legislation was, the Rev. France A. Davis said, "the kind of thing you'd see when I was growing up in Georgia," the controversy was finally put to rest when the senator apologized before Davis's mostly black congregation at Calvary Baptist Church, which knew a teaching moment when it saw one.

"There is kind of a time warp," said Darius Gray, an African American and producer of the documentary "Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons." "We are a bit slow on the uptake here."

Indeed, with race an inescapable part of the presidential campaign, blacks in Utah say their experiences serve as a reminder of the awkward times that most of the nation has moved beyond.

"We do ourselves a disservice if we only just look forward," Gray said, "because then we fail to recognize the distance traveled."

Consider the math. Less than 1 percent of the state's 2.6 million people are African American, including several hundred Hurricane Katrina evacuees who arrived by chartered jet and were frisked upon landing.

Consider also that, until 1978, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints preached that black skin was the mark of Cain -- a curse.

But also recognize, black residents say, the mix of ignorance, presumption and often an almost touching innocence that animate their stories about living in a place where most white people appear to be well-intentioned but simply do not know very many black people, and are not sure how to act.

"My first week here, one of the camera operators who was training me was asking me to teach him how to talk jive," said Tania Paxton, a TV camerawoman who arrived from back East in 1992 and found in the clear mountain air contrasts of a brightness usually seen in cartoons.

"When I travel across the state, I become this trophy," said Rodger Griffin, a human resources administrator who moved from Delaware in 1978. "People invite me to their house for dinner because they want their neighbors to see the black man."

Griffin, trained as an opera singer, came to Utah hoping to join the Tabernacle Choir but didn't cotton to being informed, upon his arrival, that he was no longer "cursed."

"I think what Utah can teach the nation is there's hope in terms of sensible race relations," said Darron Smith, a sociology professor and co-editor of "Black and Mormon." "I don't think people in Utah mean to be outlandishly racist as much as they are outlandishly naive about how race affects life."

"Naive's a good word," said Sylvia Morris, 55, the office manager at Calvary Baptist who, on visits to Los Angeles, startles black people by greeting them on the street, as she greets all fellow African Americans in Salt Lake City. "I think there are parts of Utah where children have never seen a black person."

A handful of states have fewer African Americans than Utah, but no place is more alien. Founded in 1847 by followers of the Mormon faith, the state's reputation for hard-shelled, institutional prejudice has kept blacks at a wary distance.

"I remember when my cousin first came to Utah seven years ago, she had all these preconceived notions. She heard something about tails," said Michael Styles, an African American and the director and sole employee of the state's office of black affairs. After a Utah childhood punctuated by telephoned death threats and a poisoned family dog, he now visits elementary schools around the state, handing out prizes to children who learn to say "people of color" instead of "colored."

"To survive, you have to have a sense of humor," said Paxton, the camerawoman, who followed a white boyfriend to Salt Lake City. She said that after the relationship ended, he confessed that he had chosen Utah believing it was the one place in the country she would not follow.

"A lot of times people tell me -- like it's a big revelation -- that I'm the only black person they know," she said. "And it's a lot of pressure. I have to be on my best behavior. I don't want their one experience to be a bad one."

"We all have to come with our 'A' game," said Tamu Smith, who was raised in Southern California as a niece of Black Panthers, joined the Mormon church as a teenager and moved to Provo in 1996. "We don't have room to let things penetrate and offend us. If I'm speaking somewhere, I have to be twice as prepared as the white person."

Indeed, black people here have learned to regard themselves as ambassador-pioneers: every man a Sidney Poitier, every woman a Diahann Carroll.

Cameos occur: When Griffin was voted secretary of the Utah Correctional Association, the 300 people casting ballots did not lay eyes on him until he rose, expecting the applause showered on every other winner asked to stand. What greeted him instead was "exactly" the silence Cleavon Little encounters in "Blazing Saddles," when his character, the black sheriff, enters a small Western town.

"I've had so many weird experiences like that," said Griffin. "I went to San Francisco and people didn't stare at me. And it made me very uncomfortable, because everyone always stares at me."

Arriving in the same city, Doriena Lee, 59, phoned her mother. "Guess what," she said, "there are lots of us here!" Raised in Salt Lake, a city with so few, "I didn't think there were very many black people in the world."

The underside of such seclusion is evident not only in Buttars's "dark, ugly" remark in February, but also in his responses to the ensuing uproar. He complained of being persecuted by a "hate lynch mob" and finally asked, "How do I know what words I'm supposed to use in front of those people?"

"You can find racism anywhere in the United States, but it really is sort of magnified in a place like Utah, where it's been nurtured in relative isolation," said Alex LeMay, director of "Desert Bayou," a documentary on the abrupt arrival of 600 Hurricane Katrina evacuees at a Utah military base in 2005.

"The governor asked me to do on-the-spot cultural competency," said Styles, who briefed white officials on what to expect when the evacuees came and summoned as many local black people as he could find. "It was important that African Americans were the first faces they saw, to take some of the edge off."

After being patted down, the evacuees were showered with an outpouring of aid, including jobs that were better, said several African Americans who grew up in Salt Lake, than what they expected to see open to blacks.

"They were well-received initially," the Rev. Davis said. "But after a while, people began complaining of being stared at."

Most eventually returned East. But a couple hundred remain in Utah.

"After down South, all the killings and such, it's almost like heaven, in a sense, to me," Emory Ferdinand said. "I miss home. Don't get me wrong. But you know, in New Orleans, you're always looking over your shoulder."

Smith, the sociologist, is among many who see in the same Mormon faith that once stunted race relations an opportunity to leapfrog ahead. Until 1978, the church envisioned itself as a "white and delightsome people." That year, its president had a "revelation" that the priesthood should be opened to "all worthy males." Just like that, African Americans were equals in a church where decrees still matter.

Catherine Stokes, who retired to Salt Lake from Illinois, where she ran the state's hospital inspection program, lauds the civility and "innocence" of the culture.

"It's like when I go to Nova Scotia -- it's almost like stepping back in time," said Stokes, who is black. "It's quaint. I enjoy it. People are nice to you here."

Nudging along the process is an influx of outsiders arriving as Utah's economy booms. Mormons now account for less than 50 percent of the population in Salt Lake City proper.

And popular culture plays a role. The No. 2 radio station in Salt Lake is U92, "where hip-hop lives." Erika George, a law professor at the University of Utah who grew up in Chicago, said white students who talk to her after class sometimes move their arms in the exaggerated sweeps of Ali G, a wannabe-hip-hopper TV character, apparently thinking that's how best to communicate to a black person.

"I can't say it comes from a mean-spiritedness," said George, who was dismayed when a white woman sitting behind her at a UT football game tugged on her braids, and when she was ushered onto a bus with the Blind Boys of Alabama, a black singing group, by someone who assumed she was with the band. "It's ignorance and indifference. I don't feel a cross is going to be burned on my lawn."

Still, when she's at the airport, George asks any African American she sees: "Do you live here? Are you just passing through?"

"If they live here, we usually exchange numbers," she said. "Though most people don't live here."

Indeed, in the departure lounge one day last month, Monique Nesbit eagerly awaited her flight back to Los Angeles. A friend had told her to come take a good look around, because for the price of her Inglewood condo she could buy two houses in Salt Lake.

"But no. I knew in only two days," Nesbit said, and shook her head.

"You want a bit of community," she said. "And knowing that you belong somewhere."

Her daughter, Johnique Jackson, leaned forward.

"Besides," the girl said, "my cousin's here, and she started hanging out with white people, and she started smoking meth."

==============

from the museum (cute too - with the cetacean thingg earlier - more admissions?):

It's been a long time in the works, but finally the new volunteer attire
is here! You may now retire your crimson polo shirts for the new Museum
vests.

The khaki-colored cotton vests sans buttons have two pockets and feature
a green and purple HMNH logo over the left breast. I have ordered vests
in a variety of Men's sizes including Small, Medium, Large, X Large, and
XX Large. When you come in for your next shift, feel free to try them
on to see which size you prefer.

Since the vests will not require the same frequency of laundering as the
shirts (if ever!), you may wish to leave yours here in your folder with
your name badge. If you never had a crimson shirt, you may wish to wear
your new vest over your HMNH T-shirt. How you coordinate your new vest
with your ensemble is entirely up to your sartorial skills.
==========

itl;s like rules always change . . . but then - well . . .

oy . . .

back to the cho-like? recall the vest? and recall the 412 boxes that kept appeareng in the basement of the black bull . . .

i had khaki fishing vests once - wore them out i did . . . giftsfrom g'ma . . .

it;s funny - i rest (sleep, data - see previous entries) and wake and new artlcles reflecting immediately the times . . . the CVS thing, the yuppy flu thing, and another e-mail frm the museum. .. .

back to the FASOEB brain thing?

i checked out village soup and some comments on an article too reflect this and the HUMF's back and forth . . .

oy - to the hotmail and generic yahoo accounts:

jp99@wowway.com Congratulations Your E-mail Address Have Won‏ Yesterday 2 KB
-------

hmmmm . . . . jp99 . . . rosies place time and also some 3d&UP . . . and wowway? recall the dickspamming of myway . . . wow is s show your tits thing from boston area radio .. . so this too referes to thte post beating brunswick house time . . .

hmmmm . . .

What can an individual do?

og - and from washingtonpost.com a Cho like article:

Armed Guards on 'Peace' Campuses Debated
Shooting Rampages Force Church-Affiliated Schools to Consider Guns for Security

By Marcia Z. Nelson
Religion News Service
Saturday, May 31, 2008; B09



Shooting rampages at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University left almost 40 people dead and prompted intense discussion on college campuses nationwide on how best to protect students and staff.

In the wake of those massacres, several colleges that previously relied on unarmed security staff -- Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., is one -- have taken steps to allow armed guards on campus. Many colleges already do.

But at schools affiliated with the historic "peace churches" -- the Brethren, Mennonites and Quakers -- the question of guns on campus has prompted deep levels of soul-searching on how to simultaneously embrace nonviolence and keep students and staff safe.

Trustees at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., which traces its roots to the Church of the Brethren, voted in April to authorize security to carry guns on the campus that's home to 1,460 students. It's the second Brethren-related school to adopt armed guards; five others have not.

"Obviously that [Brethren] legacy was in our minds, but we were certainly more cognizant of the needs of students and of parents who wanted to know if their children were going to be safe," said Juniata spokesman John Wall, a member of a review group that recommended arming school security.

The decision to employ armed guards was not an easy or swift one. Discussions were held with students and faculty. Juniata's Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, one of the oldest such programs in the country, asked college trustees to take more time to study the issue.

Andrew Murray, the center's outgoing director, said he and others felt it was important to offer an alternative philosophy of security that didn't rely on guns as a first response.

"I'm saddened by the decision because I think it's simply an assimilation to a culture which makes presumptions about guns and security which have no basis whatsoever in fact," he said.

The theological imperative to make peace was one of several factors considered in discussions on peace-church campuses. Some institutions looked closely at the nature of their relationship to the peace church. Did the church own the school? How did its values inform the culture of the school?

Fewer than 10 percent of the 2,700 students who attend Quaker-related Guilford College are members of the Religious Society of Friends, but "it's a huge part of our culture and identity," said Sara Butner, associate director of communications and marketing for the Greensboro, N.C., school.

Butner said the question of armed guards didn't come up because the school enjoys adequate local police support. "I don't see us getting to the point where we would have sworn officers," she said.

Other schools also cited reliance on local law enforcement. "We have a good working relationship with the local police department," said Richard Aguirre, director of public relations at Goshen College in Goshen, Ind., a Mennonite-owned campus of 1,000 students.

At Earlham College, a Quaker-related school of 1,200 students in Richmond, Ind., a security review occurred even before the Virginia Tech massacre. Campus security director Cathy Anthofer was hired in 2007 to help the school with emergency management. She said Earlham's likeliest emergency would be caused by weather, not violence.

"We've defined what an emergency is on our campus," Anthofer said. "Earlham is not a reactive institution."

Anthofer cited a good relationship between the Earlham campus and local law enforcement. "The chief of police of our local department graduated from Earlham," said Mark Blackmon, Earlham's director of media relations. "He understands where we are on this issue."

Though the shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University garnered public attention, evidence shows that campuses have generally become safer.

In crime statistics released in February from the U.S. Department of Justice, campus crime rates decreased over 10 years in every category of crime -- including violent crime -- with the exception of sexual assault. "Campuses are safer than the general population," said Christopher G. Blake, associate director of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.

Blake said that while he knows of no organization that is tracking moves toward armed security, his group has been consulted by a number of colleges and universities in the process of arming their security forces.

Campus shootings are not the only factor driving the discussions; rapid response to emergencies is shifting away from SWAT teams, which take time to assemble, to a police response that emphasizes speed. "The new paradigm is to try to engage the shooter right away," Blake said.

In their security reviews, a number of colleges also examined preventive strategies and emergency response that could employ nonlethal force, such as Tasers. From that perspective, a school's moral and legal responsibility to ensure safety does not necessarily require guns.

"There may be other nonviolent alternatives officers could use," said Donald B. Kraybill, senior fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College, a Brethren-related school in Lancaster County, Pa.

"I would hope that colleges in the peace church tradition have the brainpower to come up with creative nonviolent alternatives."

=====================