http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion en-us Copyright CNHI All Rights Reserved. 5 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225434.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:43:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225434.html Perhaps not. That level of city "option tax," if you will, would only hike the tax charged by restaurants from the state's 6.25 percent to 7 percent — and that may not sound like a financial dealbreaker.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225814.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:38:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225814.html The economy was in crisis. All forms of media reported stories about families who never thought they would face financial catastrophe and were losing their homes. On Cape Ann, local providers of assistance to struggling families and individuals came together to face this crisis as a team. This initiative brought together nonprofit agencies, faith communities and funders to create the Cape Ann Resource Exchange (CARE) network.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323231945.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:34:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323231945.html About a year ago, after my father, William "Vito" Frontiero, passed away, I came to the realization that, since moving to Washington, D.C., area more than 30 years ago, I'd lost track of my Frontiero relatives back in Gloucester. ]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225513.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:29:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225513.html I have lived in Rockport most of my life.
My children grew up here. I taught school and was a selectman and a School Committee member.
In other words, I am no stranger to town issues. ]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225805.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:24:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225805.html Did you know if you had a beloved veteran buried at Calvary Cemetery on this Nov. 11, that their U.S. flag was not there?
If you were at the Gloucester Veteran Days ceremonies, there were flags aplenty. But if your veteran was at Calvary Cemetery, his or her hard-earned American flag was not with them at their graveside.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225504.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:19:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225504.html Is everyone entitled to a free ride from Rockport to Gloucester and back, even if they are the only ones on the great, big bus?
How many miles to the gallon do you think the buses get? ]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224525.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:55:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224525.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224330.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:50:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224330.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224400.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:45:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224400.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224457.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:40:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224457.html We so often hear that the teens of Rockport and Gloucester have nothing to do and no place to go and we excuse their behavior as "kids will be kids."
I would like to draw your attention to resources for our children and teens that seems far too under utilized. The Cape Ann YMCA Teen Center in Gloucester and the Ben Beyea Youth and Teen Center in Rockport have provided safe supervised activities for my children and for the youth of Gloucester and Rockport. Rick Doucette, Nikki Klink and the other staff members are wonderful, caring, role models to the adolescents who frequent these centers. ]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224429.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:40:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224429.html Beware of House Bill H.R. 2545 — "The American Clean Energy and Security Act."
In other words, the notorious Cap and Trade Bill. Technically, this bill is supposed to limit carbon emissions by having our government impose fines on corporations and small businesses, with a regressive tax on the amount of carbon dioxide they release. ]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224130.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:40:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224130.html The Improved Order of Red Men Wingaersheek Tribe 12 of Gloucester has now disbanded.
It began in 1886, when approximately 2,000 men petitioned for charter to the Great Council of Massachusetts, a member of the IORM of the Unites States, to establish a local tribe in Gloucester. It was then on the third sun of the Snow Moon that it was granted.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322125325.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:53:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322125325.html Well, here we are nearing another holiday season.
The holiday is fast approaching and I am sure Action Inc. has started to work on its Project Uplift program. I wrote about it in my last writings. I hope the readers took my message to heart.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_321213751.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:55:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_321213751.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_321213954.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:45:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_321213954.html Especially in these weeks before Thanksgiving I think about giving thanks, and about blessings, and the connection between them.
Sometimes we think that a blessing for bread or wine or seeing a rainbow expects us to actually bless the wine or bread —or even the rainbow.¬ But blessing are directed to God, recognizing God as the Creator (or "Originator") of all things in the world.¬ So at the moment before we eat, or when we see a beautiful vista (the ocean or the mountains), or when we encounter a person of great wisdom, or when we pass a place of special memories, we say a blessing and recall the Holy One who Created the world and all in it.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_321213903.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:40:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_321213903.html You've seen the headlines: Wall Street Firms Get H1N1 Flu Vaccine Before Hospitals and Doctors.
That's correct.
The same investment corporations and banks that brought you the financial crisis get a separate shipment of vaccine even before the hospitals and doctors offices. The top dogs of capitalism get the vaccine before children who are at risk and medically challenged.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_321214022.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:40:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_321214022.html The headline "French company controls water" (Times, Friday, Nov. 13) might have led one to believe that our elected officials relinquished control of the city of Gloucester's water supply by selling out to a private corporation. ]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_321213720.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:40:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_321213720.html Here's a challenge to Essex voters:
Give the name of a single public official who has, in the last 20 years, initiated even a single measure that either increased the financial return or the townspeople's access to the water at Conomo Point.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320223125.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:55:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320223125.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320223404.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:50:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320223404.html While Interim Administrator Edgar Gadbois seems to have steered day-to-day town operations without incident for the past four months, with some six weeks to go, after the exit of Michael Racicot, Sanders' hiring and her signing of a contract should bring the kind of stability that town employees, and residents deserve. With that in mind, however, selectmen should also use this occasion to firm up stability within their own ranks, and regarding their own leadership.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320223312.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:40:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320223312.html Mr. Burnham's response (Times, Nov. 13) to my letter (Times, Nov. 11) accused me of a "smear" and "attack" on his daughter. I neither smeared nor attacked her. I only observed that, in the front-page photograph from the City Hall charter school demonstration, the girls' faces were contorted. ]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320223215.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:40:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320223215.html I have been hearing about a potential North Shore Tech/Essex Aggie merger since my freshman year at North Shore Tech back in 1997-'98.
After experiencing what this school had to offer, I saw why so many students wanted to attend. This was an amazing opportunity. I knew it wouldn't happen in my four years there, but I hoped it would happen so that my little sister could experience something I could only dream about. ]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320223244.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:40:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320223244.html Much as I respect freedom of speech, I keep wondering what the next thing our right-wing crybabies will moan about in their letters to the editor.
I write to sing the praises of socialized medicine. Social: having to do with the group (mankind) as well as the individual.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320222954.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:29:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320222954.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320104359.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:43:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_320104359.html You know what I mean: those paternalistic, friendly, reassuring television ads — in which the big paternalistic, friendly reassuring insurance companies paint this warm, wonderful portrait of you and them as partners, buddies — co-pilots on the runway of life's big adventure. ]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_319222933.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:55:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_319222933.html It's also disconcerting that, with the status of Gloucester's water still a bit shaky given the mandated notice sent two weeks ago regarding the presence of carcinogens, the city is now in its third water facility operator in the last six years.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_319222926.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:50:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_319222926.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_319223342.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:40:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_319223342.html Recently, my child was one of 10 who were issued a civil complaint by the Rockport Police Department for possession of less then an ounce of marijuana, even though none was found on any of the 10. (Some was found in the area by officers and a state police dog which the Rockport Police called in). ]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_319222852.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:40:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_319222852.html After seeing a few "letters of thanks" to Congressman Tierney for voting along party lines regarding the monstrous health care reform bill, I just had to write, so the voice of what I believe is more than half the country can be heard. ]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_319223015.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:30:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_319223015.html For those who could not attend, this is what I got out of the presentation at The Gloucester House sponsored by the Environmental Defense Fund last week.
I did not think the presentations by the fishermen from Alaska were flawed. They were very clear about the situation being very different in the various Alaska fisheries and certainly they made no attempt to say what they experienced was applicable to our situation. In particular, they emphasized that the moves to catch shares in Alaska were motivated by crashes in stocks and consequent financial disasters and lives lost in making 12-hour halibut openings in storms.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_317214827.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:45:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_317214827.html We have some stories tentatively planned for the next day's Times — and we obviously know when some news events, such as Wednesday's touching Veterans Day ceremonies, are taking place. But an entire day's game plan can change at the drop of a hat if and when a breaking story hits.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_317214950.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:40:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_317214950.html CodeRED allows city officials to quickly deliver messages to either targeted areas or to the entire city.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_317214957.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:35:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_317214957.html Here, the National Marine Fisheries Service wants to impose a catch share system without careful design in less than a year.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_317215005.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:30:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_317215005.html I have always considered myself to be a pessimist when it comes to the way people are.
I believed that the majority, given the opportunity, would treat people poorly. From Oct. 27 to Nov. 7, I encountered a group of people that have forever changed my mind.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_316223208.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:55:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_316223208.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_316223130.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:50:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_316223130.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_316223004.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:50:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_316223004.html John Pappalardo, chairman of the council and a Massachusetts fisherman, wanted to get fellow fishermen, scientists, state officials and regulators on the council into a more relaxed conversation.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_316223100.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:45:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_316223100.html Doing this is comparable to selecting one piece from a large box of magnificent chocolates, but choose I must and after much review settled on "The Merchant of Venice."]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_316223337.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:40:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_316223337.html How pathetic and ugly was William G. Reinecke's letter (The Times, Wednesday, Nov. 11) concerning my daughter and her five friends, who joined their parents at City Hall this past Saturday to show — respectfully, politely, yet with vigor and enthusiasm — their unhappiness with the impending charter school that will negatively affect the schools they happily attend and learn in by drawing funds away from an already underfunded city, and the so-obviously underhand manner in which it was approved.]]> http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_315214906.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:55:00 EST http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_315214906.html