Jeff Perry, Now More than Ever

This past week, The Boston Globe ran its second FRONT PAGE STORY in five weeks regarding Republican congressional candidate Jeff Perry's involvement, or lack thereof, in a pair of twenty-year old cases involving unlawful strip searches of two girls by the same Wareham policeman.

Let it be said clearly at the outset that this type of behavior should absolutely not be tolerated by any police department or its community. And it should be noted, that Scott Flanagan, the police officer accused in both cases, was fired from the force and later confessed to the acts and went to prison. The Globe articles, as well as several articles appearing in the Cape Cod Times, have attempted to tar Perry who was Flanagan's shift supervisor at the time.

The bottom line is that the guilty party was punished and Perry was exonerated. His only failing was to believe the word of one of his men, but that only lasted until the facts emerged. The incidents gave raise to Flanagan's criminal proceedings as well as two civil suites brought by the girl's families. The Globe and the Cape Cod Times are now sifting through testimony from these events, as well as police records, to find any inconsistencies between those sources and Perry's current recollections. Those with plenty of extra time and access to Google, can revisit the press reports in their dizzying detail. Note to Press: Just because something is maintained in a deposition or trial testimony does not automatically make such statements factual. Trials essentially try to determine which party's perceptions of events most closely resemble reality. These articles are scrambling to connect a collection of shadowy dots to somehow prove, twenty years later, that Perry acted improperly. All this scenario needs is a grassy knoll.

But the goal of these articles is not necessarily to "prove" anything. What they have been successful in doing is generating headlines that link Perry's name with provocative words such as "strip search". Those of us who know Jeff Perry will dig for the truth in the quasi-allegations. Unfortunately, many others will remember only the headlines.

Jeff perry is guilty, but not of the shadowy charges surrounding these articles. Jeff is "guilty" of offering voters in the Massachusetts 10th congressional district the choice of a candidate with strong conservative Republican principles, who would bring a voice of sanity and balance to the funny farm currently masquerading as the U.S. Congress. Now, more than ever, we need to send Jeff Perry to Congress.

Newsbusters with Jack Coleman

The View is always on the lookout for interesting websites, especially those dealing with national current events. We are, then, pleased to recommend Jack Coleman's blog which is published under the Newsbusters.org umbrella. Click HERE for a look at this well-written and informative site.

A tip of the Hat to Plymouth's own Jack Coleman

Golfing in America's Home Town

To say that golfing venues abound in Plymouth is an understatement as it is home to a staggering ten golf courses, which offer a broad range of difficulty and amenities. These range from casual par 3 atmosphere of The Village Links to the challenging formality of the two Pine Hills eighteens. It also includes the View's favorite course, Atlantic Country Club. All told, the Town hosts over 200 holes of golf. This might not raise many eyebrows in Myrtle Beach, but its quite notable in frosty New England. Accessibility is excellent with seven of the courses open to the public, but two of the private courses, Plymouth CC and White Cliffs, seem to be actively recruiting members. Only the new ultra-private, and ironically-named, Old Sandwich course shields its 163 members, each of whom shelled out a reported $200K initiation fee, with a guarded entrance that prohibits un-invited visitors. What was it that Groucho Marks said about private clubs? But we digress.

We were over at Waverly Oaks last Saturday, playing the nine-hole Executive course with friends as part of an impromptu Nine & Dine. The well-maintained nine-hole is an interesting course that can provide just enough of a challenge to make it an interesting golf experience while still being kind to golfers preferring shorter courses. As an aside, the adjacent eighteen-hole course is not only one of the most attractive golf courses in Plymouth, but perhaps in New England.

The significance of last Saturday's outing was that had the movie studio development plan had gone forward as planned, The Executive would have been under excavation in preparation of multiple sound stages. For several years now, Plymouth Rock Studios has been trumpeting plans for a $500 million project that would transform Waverly Oaks into Hollywood East. Golfers and others shuddered to think of bulldozers destroying this beautiful golf property.

Initially, the project garnered Town-wide support, as would any development that promised jobs and tax revenue and an environmentally-friendly business. Add in the excitement of having Hollywood actors cruising Court Street and the package was hard to resist. Seemingly, the most important among the few that refused to buy-in to the project were the lenders that were expected to provide what amounted to all of the development money. Granted, banks and other lenders have been under the gun due to the the sub-prime mortgage saga, but an early indication came when the Commonwealth passed on the $50 million I-cubed bond issue which would have paid for the infrastructure that would make the development site accessible. In spite of the fact that the project seemed to fit the I-cubed program to a tee, the state couldn't bring itself to fund the project. Many reasons were offered for the turn down, but at the bottom of the pile seemed to be a lack of confidence in the studios business plan. Then came the Globe's Spotlight on the principals of PRS. Suffice it to say, with the exception of certain Plymouth Selectmen, the confidence level for the management team went south real fast. As of late there have been a few minor bleats as PRS goes through its death throes. If Las Vegas were giving odds on the studio ever getting out of the ground, there would be very few takers. With deference to the "never-say-never" school of thought, Plymouth's version of Hollywood East just isn't in the cards anymore, if it ever was.

As we finished our round on Saturday, we all agreed that we were glad that the course was still in place for all to enjoy. This view is also shared by many local golfers who love the facility. We stopped in the clubhouse for the "dine" part of the outing and marvelled once again at the building's magnificence. How this facility could be virtually empty on a Saturday evening make one wonder as to the management skills of the current owners. Now that a buy-out seems unlikely, perhaps they will bring in a management team that could take advantages of the attractive physical plant and allow the course to achieve its potential.

Recognizing the benefits of the tourism industry, Plymouth makes a concerted effort to attract visitors to its historic sites. Given that the golf courses are already in place, the Town could easily promote its golf courses as part of the effort, and at little additional promotional cost. Suggested New motto: "See the Rock and golf like a pilgrim".





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A Day for Remembrance

On this day for remembering, we recall a favorite quote of Winston Churchill:

'Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few'

While Churchill was, at the time, speaking about British pilots during the Battle of Britain in 1940, the words are easily applied to other times and other places. He liked his whiskey and his cigars, but the man brought an eloquence to the English language that is fast going the way of the Dodo in our contemporary world of texts and tweets. And maybe it's his American mother that gives many of us a special link to his greatness.

Today, we rightly honor those who have served to protect our way of life, especially those who have fallen in the line of duty. But we also take this special day to remember those of our own families and communities that have gone before us and in many ways, large and small, helped pave our way into the future. It is important to celebrate those memories thereby perpetuating their influence beyond mortal constraints.

The View's Favorite Sports Bar

It all started at a Red Sox spring training game in Ft. Meyers this March. We were checking the scoreboard when up came an ad for Johnny Malloy's Sports Pub in nearby Bonita Springs. We never did stop in for the two-for-one chicken wings, or whatever they were offering to Sox fans, but we eventually did do a little research and learned that this restaurant is actually a franchise with nine additional locations.

But when you click on the LINK, the plot thickens as it turns out that the eponymous Johnny Malloy was a mounted policeman. The music, alone, is worth the click

In our family, we have our own mountie, cousin, Jamesie Leahy. So if we were to bring one of these franchises to Massachusetts, we would have to re-craft the name to somehow include our mountie while still taking advantage of the franchise. Any thoughts? And while you are thinking, try to come up with someone with deep pockets that also knows how to run a sports bar.

Plymouth Town Election, May 8th

Just in case you have been out of town for the past few months, the election that has precipitated the proliferation of lawn signs around Town will be held next Saturday, May 8th at all the regular polling places. To View a sample ballot, click HERE, then select your precinct. Aside from the election of 3 Town Meeting Representatives from each precinct, the main event, and only town-wide contest, is the election of two members to the Board of Selectmen from among three candidates: incumbent, BUTCH MACHADO, Vice Chair of the Finance and Administrative Advisory Board (Fin Com) MATT MURATORE, and former Fin Com member SERGIO HARNAIS The candidates have been busy over the past few months attending a number of debates, some of which have been televised. For those seeking more information about the candidates' backgrounds, experience, education, other community involvements, we suggest visiting the candidates web sites by clicking on the highlighted names above.

On a more qualitative basis, we offer the following thoughts:

Incumbent, Plymouth native, Butch Machado has served as Selectman for the past three years. He deserves full credit for enduring the gruelling nights of long meetings. Moreover he comes across as being a straight shooter who means what he says. One concern, however, stems from his full-time employment with the Town of Plymouth DPW. To his credit, this means he cannot accept the stipends and benefits provided to other elected officials, but it also means that he must recuse himself from many key budget discussions, especially those involving crucial negotiations and budgeting concerns relative to Town employees and their benefits. As the Town continues to face severe revenue shortfalls, these discussions and decisions will become more important than ever.

As Vice Chair of the Fin Com, Mat Muratore also knows the grind of lengthy weekly night meetings. The other side of this coin, however, is the in-depth knowledge of Town finance that this service has provided him. As a business executive, he also knows first-hand about the challenges of running a large private organization in the demanding health care field.

Serge Harnais also brings Fin Com experience to the table. In addition, he has twenty years experience in Information Technology with the Federal Reserve bank of Boston.

The View sees Muratore as the strongest candidate. Butch Machado is a good man, but is handicapped by his position with the DPW. In better times, this may not have been as important as it is today. Due to anticipated revenue shortfalls, the Town will be forced to consider major cuts in these areas as they constitute a major portion of the Town budget.

Serge Hernais brings enthusiasm and talent to the task. While lighter on experience than the other two candidates, he may well have the ability to quickly climb the municipal learning curve.

Thoughts from the Plymouth Town Meeting

It took a long Saturday and one additional evening session, but the Town Meeting managed to deal with all 57 Articles before it. What follows is a brief summary of some of the key issues that were decided.

One of the most important tasks for the Annual Town Meeting is the approval of the operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year. This is essentially the amount of money that the Town estimates that it will need to keep the lights on for the year ending June 30, 2011 and is a key variable when it comes time to set the tax rate. The final approved amount came in at $149.6 million, and by all measures, it was a fairly conservative tally. There was not a lot of fat in this number. And while this would ordinarily give rise to some optimism for next year's property tax bills, the introductory remarks delivered by state and local officials indicated some potential rain on that parade

In case there is any confusion, the recession is still with us and Town officials put up slides showing a persistent decline in income from fees as well as income generated by Excise tax receipts, two income items that help to offset property taxes. The really bad news came from State Senate President Theresa Murray who noted the continued decline in the state's revenue stream. The rainy day fund seems to be down to the bottom of the barrel and the federal stimulus money that closed many a budget gap, has come and gone. And this was before the Governor started talking about a major shortfall for the state's health care program. The bottom line, for those willing to see it, is that state aid to cities and towns is going to be hard to come by in fiscal 2011. And unless there is a miraculous economic boom, fiscal 2012 could be tougher still.

There has been a great deal of debate and at least one law suit (between the Plymouth Planning Board and the Plymouth Zoning Board of Appeals) over whether a Honda dealership might be built on the now vacant lot on long Pond Road near the southbound off ramp from Exit 5. It is good to finally have this dispute settled. As it finally played out, the Dealership will be allowed, but under a Special Building Permit, which will allow the Town to get intimately involved in the projects design. While some residents are afraid that this might be the start of an "Auto Mile" on Long Pond Road, most others welcome the addition to Plymouth's economic base, especially those planning on buying a Honda.

Graffiti is an eyesore, especially in Plymouth's historic center. While the Town has been proactive in its efforts to eradicate this blight, it has been stymied by a few absentee landlords who ignore repeated requests to clean up their properties. The new anti-graffiti law adopted by Town Meeting will provide the Town with the power to effect the needed clean ups on these properties.

You may, or may not know what happens to our trash, aka solid waste, after it has been deposited in the Town's transfer station. Turns out, that it is trucked to a facility run by SEMASS of Wareham where it is used as fuel to generate electricity. Plymouth currently pays SEMASS $22.53 a ton for accepting our trash under a contract that continues until January 1, 2015. Since the current "market rate" being charged by SEMASS to others is substantially higher than this amount, it is generally agreed that the tipping rate paid by Plymouth after 2015 will see a big increase. In order to smooth out that increase, it was proposed that a new contract be signed that would step up the rate each year, but provide for an ongoing rate that would be below the expected market rates. Got it? Well, I hope you do because then there are a number of questions as to the total tonnage that Plymouth will provide annually, the availability, or lack thereof, of viable alternatives to the SEMASS plant and a whole host of possibilities that might be triggered by technical changes, and/or, regulatory changes. Looking out to the future is always tricky. In this case, there are way too many variables which is essentially why the Town Meeting turned down the proposal. The Solid waste Committee and other Town officials worked hard on this contract, and it may well turn out to be a good deal for the Town. The Town Meeting was willing to take that risk and let the existing contract stay in place, at least for a while.

In case you missed it, look at the property tax bill that you received last week. The item marker CPA, that equals 1.5% of the Real Estate Tax amount is not to pay for public accounting services. This is a surcharge payable under the Community Preservation Act, which raises funds (i.e. additional taxes) with which the Town buys opens land, historical properties and helps fund low and moderate income housing. The proponents of the CPA tax were vocal in their defense against a pair of TM Articles that would have reduced or eliminated the tax. Supporters noted that these funds, which are matched by the state and often used to garner grant money, have produced almost three times the amount of the original tax. These funds have been used to buy and retire some 840 acres of open land under the premise that developed housing tends to attract families which leads to an increased need for schools and other Town services. Other land has been purchased to protect environmentally-sensitive tracts. CPA funds contributed to the Town's purchase
of the 1820 Courthouse and have been used in the development of affordable housing.
while these efforts have been defended as a win-win no-brainer for the taxpayers, there are some questions to be asked. The state has reduced its matching percentage, which is not expected to increase any time soon. Moreover, more light needs to be shed on the exact nature of some of the CPA funded acquisitions and just what the costs are to the Town. In the meantime, both articles were handily defeated so the CPA tax continues.

Of interest to many Precinct 5 residents was the Article put forth by Pinehills LLC seeking changes to the zoning rules for Pinehills. Suffice it to say, the Article that was approved by TM was the product of endless negotiation with Town Officials, resulting in a slight increase in building heights within the commercial district, some minor changes in the setback requirements from Beaver Dam Road and an increase in the number of drive-through windows from one to two for non-financial tenants.
The issue regarding the parcel of land located on the east side of Great Island Pond was withdrawn. During the past several months, John Judge has been ubiquitous in his campaign to get these changes made. While rumors abound as to what tenants might be in the wings, Judge has stated that there are none that are teed up and ready to go and that these changes are merely a part of long-term planning.

One additional note concerns a recasting of the precincts within Plymouth. According to Town Clerk, Larry Pizer, a new set of precincts will be established subsequent to the 2011 Town election but prior to the 2012 Town elections. It is expected that two additional precincts will be added bringing the total to 16 and that most, if not all of the existing precinct boundaries will probably be re-drawn. It is expected that all 9 Town Meeting seats in each new precinct will be up for election.

While there are Critics of the Town Meeting System of government, we think that the efforts of all concerned deserve a well-done for its attention to performing the Town's business in a very open and transparent process.