http://www.gloucestertimes.com en-us Copyright CNHI All Rights Reserved. 5 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:44:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_324232839.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_324232839.html I'm always proud to talk about the Times as a local, community newspaper. With very few exceptions, all of our Page 1 and other news stories each day focus squarely on what's going on in our local communities of Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester and Essex. Our Sports coverage gives top priority to our local high school teams and other local sport news. Our Arts/Entertainment coverage and mdash; especially through our featured section each Thursday and mdash; doesn't focus on the latest releases from Hollywood, but on the many artistic events happening on and around Cape Ann. And the Times is written, illustrated, edited and designed each day and night right here at our Times offices at 36 Whittemore St. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:39:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_324233123.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_324233123.html This past week, we attended the long-awaited Enforcement Conference with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection regarding the water crisis that took place beginning in August. It was a sobering meeting. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:34:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_324234348.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_324234348.html To the editor: I'm shocked, shocked. I've gotten used to Dean Burgess' letters to the editor appearing with the regularity of a column. I've gotten used to disagreeing with almost everything he says. Every once in a while, I think he's made a valid point. But I'm shocked at his apparent lack of knowledge regarding the carbon cycle. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:34:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_324233055.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_324233055.html To the editor: The Times' Nov. 19 editorial on the proposed Gloucester Community Arts Charter School ("IG's probe into state process shouldn't affect approved charter") misses an extremely important point. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:24:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_324233304.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_324233304.html One day about 24 years ago, a friend of mine, Howie Lane, who was an Essex clam digger, dropped me off on a large clam flat known as "the Spit." It was about a quarter mile off Conomo Point. The clam flat was huge, with boundaries connected with Essex, Ipswich and Gloucester. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:43:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225434.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225434.html Would a .75 percent city hike in the meals tax charged at local restaurants spark an outcry among local diners? 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 mdash; and that may not sound like a financial dealbreaker. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:38:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225814.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225814.html Remember February 2009? 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. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:34:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323231945.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323231945.html To the editor: 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. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:29:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225513.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225513.html To the editor: 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. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:24:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225805.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225805.html To the editor: 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. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:19:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225504.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_323225504.html To the editor: 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? Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:55:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224525.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224525.html The entry of the state's Inspector General's office into the persistent fight over the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education's approval of the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School is certainly warranted. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:50:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224330.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224330.html Debates are the best ways for voters to get to know candidates and mdash; especially when those candidates have never served in a specific office before. So it is a major disappointment to see Attorney General Martha Coakley, the leading Democrat in all the polls heading into the Dec. 8 primary election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the passing of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, apparently dodging debates with her fellow Democratic candidates, Congressman Michael Capuano, Boston Celtics co-owner Steven Pagliuca and City Year co-founder Alan Khazei. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:45:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224400.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224400.html Earlier this month, many of the nation's newspapers, TV and radio stations devoted considerable time and space to commemorating the 20th anniversary of the tearing down of one of the best-known symbols of the Cold War, that bitter and immensely costly ideological tug-of-war between the former Soviet Union and the United States that dragged on for nearly 50 years. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:40:00 +0000 http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224457.html http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_322224457.html To the editor: 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.