Paul working for you.

Friday, April 29, 2016

Watch Candidates Night on Channel 8


Watch Candidates Night on Channel 8

Saturday
7 am: Home Care & Caregiving
8 am: Online Banking & Security
10 am: Candidates' Night
12 pm: School Committee Meeting
1 pm: NRHS Theater: Oz Scenes
2 pm: Veterans' Outreach
3 pm: Board of Selectmen Meeting
6 pm: Heroin/Opioid Epidemic & What to Do About It
9 pm: Candidates' Night

Sundays
6 am: Board of Selectmen Meeting
9 am: Songbirds of the Northeast
10:30 am: Cabin Fever Collectors' Show
11 am: ZBA Hearing on New School
12 pm: Home Care & Caregiving
3 pm: Candidates' Night
5:30 pm: Saving the Village Clock
7 pm: Music Journey with Tommy Rull
8 pm: ’Gansett Hour: Wizard of Oz and Almost Spring Concert
10 pm: Candidates' Night

Mondays
7 am: Online Banking & Security
9 am: Candidates' Night
11 am: Home Care & Caregiving
1 pm: Candidates' Night
3 pm: Cabin Fever Collectors' Show
4 pm: Heroin/Opioid Epidemic & What to Do About It
5 pm: Saving the Village Clock
8 pm: Hear That Whistle Blow! Stories from the Railroad
9:30 pm: Veterans' Outreach
10 pm: ZBA Hearing on New School

May Day Celebration ...April 30, 2016








Historical Society Newsletter

QUESTION ASKED LAST NIGHT AT CANDIDATES NIGHT



Question asked last night at Candidates night
Do I think the rate paid for solar net metering was at wholesale or should it be at a retail rate when consumed at a retail rate?

Net metering policy on the TMLWP site is as follows.

For the billing interval ending during the first month following each anniversary date of net metering generation facility operation (or at the termination of electric service), should any unused credits have been accumulated during the previous 12 months, then TMLWP shall credit the electric customer's account an amount equal to the unused credited KWH times the average Locational Marginal Price (LMP) cost (excluding transmission costs) from the previous 12 months.
TMLWP shall be the party responsible for maintenance and testing of said bi-directional! meter.

To conclude the amount should be LMP ( excluding transmission cost)

I hope that includes the special Bi directional meter cost.

If the power is consumed locally and not pushed back into the grid TMLWP incur no added cost to push out. If not and it goes back to the grid the cost is increased the net metered customer should only be allowed the margin minus the charges needed to prohibit any loss to the TMLWP. This cost could reduce the net metering buyback when the power needs are low and solar production is high.
Some who were of the thought the net metering was a money maker have over sized and are now stuck with a power production they thought was worth what they were paying for power in reverse.
As with any investment always check with the people who know the most before you invest.

Almost all Solar installers will not come to Templeton due to our TMLWP.
The reason is the above information does not work for them or us as consumers.

"Why Our Children Should Hate Us" - To Your Health!


"Why Our Children Should Hate Us" - Read The Lance Simmens Article Banned By The Huffington Post

Tyler Durden's picture



Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
Although Lance Simmens has been intimately involved in public life for several decades, you’ve probably never heard of him. As such, a little introduction is needed.

As mentioned, Lance Simmens’ career was spent in public policy. Specifically, he worked for two U.S. Presidents as well as a couple of senators and governors. Since retirement, he’s been a prolific writer, publishing 180 articles at the Huffington Post over the past 8 years. As such, it came as a great shock to him to discover that one of his recent articles was removed by the Huffington Post shortly after publication. It was the first article ever rejected by the online publication, and the unacceptable subject matter was nothing more than a positive review of the banned everywhere documentary VAXXED.

Here’s Lance Simmens describing the ordeal in a recent interview:




He mentions being locked out of his account, but it seems to have been reinstated since I came across a new piece published April 22 titled, Can Berners Become Trumpeters?

His VAXXED article; however, remains missing in action. As such, I bring you the banned Huffington Post article titled, Why Our Children Should Hate Us:
Vaxxed, the controversial documentary alleging a direct causal relationship between vaccines and exponential increases in autism amongst children is a deeply disturbing and hence critically important piece of work that will cause many sleepless nights for parents of infants everywhere.

I had the honor of both watching the film and participating in a discussion afterwards with its Producer, Del Bigtree and Director, Dr. Andrew Wakefield. It is a must see film and deserves to serve as a catalyst for a national discussion of the role of mandatory vaccines for children and the role of the pharmaceutical industry in government decision-making.

What is equally disturbing, however, is that the film represents another in a cascade of documented allegations calling to task not only the corruption of government regulatory agencies but the corruption of science and scientific method itself. And to the extent that the current Presidential election contest has sparked virulent dissatisfaction with our elected leadership and the institutions of government, we must take this opportunity to seriously question what many had taken for granted: namely, that government has as its most solemn mission the protection of public health, safety and welfare. The film carefully documents decisions by the Centers for Disease Control that lend credence to systemic corruption.

How Much Fluoride Are We Ingesting?

How Much Fluoride Are We Ingesting?




Fluoride Fascists Push Mass Medication

April 26, 2016 | 21,494 views

By Dr. Mercola

For any debate to be successful, there must be integrity on both sides as well as respect. This is lacking in discussions about water fluoridation, in which name-calling and disrespect are par for the course — particularly against anyone who dare speak out against it. 

Stephen Peckham, director of the Centre for Health Service Studies at the University of Kent and a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Toronto, knows this all too well. 

In 2014, he and a colleague published a study that concluded, "available evidence suggests that fluoride has a potential to cause major adverse human health problems, while having only a modest dental caries prevention effect."1

They recommended that water fluoridation be reconsidered globally, a trend that's already increasing as the notion of mass-medicating populations with a toxic chemical falls out of favor.

Since 2010, more than 150 communities and countries — including Israel, Portland, Oregon, and Calgary in Alberta, Canada — have rejected water fluoridation2 — so it's not as though Peckham's findings came as a complete surprise.

Still, his 2014 publication, and another published in 2015 that linked fluoridated water consumption to thyroid dysfunction, were met by a series of "poisonous attacks." "Nothing prepared me for the ferocity around fluoridation," Peckham told The Guardian. "I've been hugely and personally attacked."3

History of Attacking Opponents to Water Fluoridation Dates Back to 'Dr. Strangelove' Film

In the water fluoridation debate, those who spoke out against it have long been labeled as quacks or zealots. This can be traced back decades, in part due to Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film "Dr. Strangelove." 

In the film, General Jack D. Ripper tries to stop a Communist conspiracy to harm Americans with fluoridated water and at one point states:
"Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?"
Of course, water fluoridation was not a communist plot — it was started by the U.S. Public Health Service. But the film pokes fun at the John Birch Society, an extreme right-wing group that happened to be anti-fluoridation. 

So, of course, anyone at the time who dared speak out against fluoridation was also ruled to be a fanatic, a radical or just a lunatic — even when they could point to legitimate science to back up their claims.

Historian Attacked for Daring to Speak Against Water Fluoridation

Even before "Dr. Strangelove," Catherine Carstairs, Ph.D., of the department of History at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, argued in the American Journal of Public Health that:4
" … [S]ome early concerns about the toxicity of fluoride were put aside as evidence regarding the effectiveness and safety of water fluoridation mounted and as the opposition was taken over by people with little standing in the scientific, medical, and dental communities.
The sense of optimism that infused postwar science and the desire of dentists to have a magic bullet that could wipe out tooth decay also affected the scientific debate."
By the way, Carstairs too was attacked for her historical account, as was the scientific journal that "dared" to publish it. "You don't usually get this kind of attention as an historian," Carstairs told The Guardian. "It was like, how dare you say anything against water fluoridation."5

Hull, England Mulls Water Fluoridation Despite Opposition From Locals

The vast majority (97 percent) of Western Europe has rejected water fluoridation, but Hull, England is considering adding it to the water supply. No new fluoridation plans have been passed in the U.K. in 20 years — despite more than 60 proposals in that period.6

However, the Hull city council has commissioned an engineering feasibility study on fluoridation, the results of which they plan to use to determine how, when and whether to move forward.
The proposal has been met with intense opposition from locals who believe adding fluoride to the water is "mass medication without consent." 

While the city has a high rate of tooth decay — 43 percent of the area's 5-year-olds have tooth decay compared with 28 percent nationally7 — the evidence that water fluoridation reduces tooth decay is very weak.

The vast majority of countries fluoridate neither their water nor their salt, but according to the World Health Organization, tooth decay in 12-year-olds is coming down as fast, if not faster, in non-fluoridated countries as it is in fluoridated countries.8

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Informational Meeting

Informational Meeting 


 

Candidates Night

Candidates Night

 

RIP Templeton Center

RIP  Templeton Center

The well attended Zoning Board of Appeals meeting was held last night in the Kiva.

Long story short, the Dover amendment trumps any and all local zoning bylaws. ( So why have any zoning bylaws at all?)

Interesting questions were asked last night, like:

Why did the original school building committee reject the Templeton Center School site?

Answer: After espousing the litany of the land searches, the original building committee rejected the Templeton Center School site because THE SITE WAS TOO SMALL.

Why is there a height requirement in the Village district?

Answer: After some fumbling, the chairman of the Planning Board said something about the need for a height requirement in the Village district was to PRESERVE THE RURAL CHARACTER OF THE VILLAGE DISTRICT.

So at 7:10 pm the ZBA made a unanimous vote to approve the variance for the elementary school project.

No worries though. There will be a "Say Goodbye to Templeton Center" Event on Sunday  May 22, 2016. 

Coming soon to this blog - "Tips on ways to avoid  Templeton Center". Please submit your ideas to paulcosentino9@gmail.com

 
RIP  Templeton Center

 
 

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

ZBA Meeting... TONIGHT!

ZBA Meeting... TONIGHT!... 6:30 pm...  KIVA

On April 26th, there will be a joint meeting with the ZBA and the Planning Board. The meeting will be the first meeting concerning the new Elementary School.
    

This is an important meeting and we urge anyone who lives near or travels through the area to attend and voice your opinions for the good of our town. It is important for us all to have a total discussion and voice now or forget it in the future as you will have lost your chance to be heard. 

             NRHS KIVA Room at 6:30 pm,  NOT the Town Hall!
*****************************************

Red Rover Update


 A few weeks ago a blog was posted about the Dover Amendment :

Red Rover, Red Rover Send Dover Right Over

Today a comment was posted that is of interest:

The Dover Amendment (state statute) provides that school projects in Massachusetts are exempt from local zoning regulations under most circumstances. I was asked to consult Town Counsel to determine whether the Building Inspector or the Zoning Board is the proper entity to determine if the Dover Amendment is applicable. The design for the school provides for a height that exceeds the zoning requirement by approximately 1.5 feet; if the Dover Amendment applies, the school building may exceed the zoning regulation.

It has been determined that the proper entity to make the decision is the Zoning Board of Appeals. The ZBA has scheduled an open public hearing for April 26. 

*****************************************
Looks like there WILL be a ZBA meeting after all! 

Questions: 

Why do the zoning regulations have a height restriction for the Village Districts in Templeton? 

What department promoted the Zoning by laws so they would pass at town meeting?

Why was town Counsel asked to determine the applicability of the Dover Amendment in regard to the site for the Elementary School, but Town Counsel was never asked reviewed  the $50 million dollar contract for the Elementary School?

Maybe people will want to attend this meeting and ask some questions? Maybe?

****************************************************
Specifically, the Dover Amendment states that “[n]o zoning ordinance or by-law shall prohibit, regulate or restrict the use of land or structures for religious purposes or for educational purposes on land owned or leased by the [state], or by a religious sect or denomination, or by a nonprofit educational corporation” — except that reasonable restrictions in eight specified areas may be imposed so long as these restrictions do not unduly hinder the religious or educational use. Those eight areas of permissible zoning restriction are: bulk of structures, height of structures, yard sizes, lot area, setbacks, open space, parking and building footprints.1

Monday, April 25, 2016

Free Cash ...Again!

Free Cash ...Again!

So what's all this I hear about Free cash?

In a recent post, Pay off Debt or Lower Taxes,
The Gardner city council and the Mayor were debating the best use of free cash.

Archival research from this blog:




"The real question is, who made the decision to use Free Cash, former Town Accountant, past administration, past Select Boards? 

Let's see the past repeat itself!  Let's continue to support the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen who endorses the use of Free Cash to supplement the operating budget and throws taxpayers out of a public meeting for disagreeing with him!

Forever In Your Debt...

Forever In Your Debt...

 Where to begin? Let's look at a debt schedule for Light , Water and Sewer:



Payment on this debt for FY 2016 $960,814.64

 Ending balance owed on this debt at the end of this Fiscal year:
$8,157, 3231.20

 The debt payment for FY 2017 for these departments is:

 $1,093,270.85 for FY 2017 and increase of $132,456.21 over FY 16.

In the  following fiscal years this debt will begin to decrease. In FY 2028 the light, water and sewer debt is projected to be $38,547 -

IF NO NEW DEBT WERE ADDED!

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Meetings the Week of April 25, 2016


Meetings the Week of April 25, 2016

Monday 4/25/16
Insurance Com.                         E. Temp             1:00 pm
BOS                                          E. Temp.             6:30 pm


Tuesday 4/26/16
Elem School                            NRHS Library     6:00 pm
Elem School                            Kiva                     6:30 pm
Planning                                  Kiva                     7:20 pm     
ZBA                                        Kiva                     6:30 pm

Wednesday 4/27/16
Adv. Board                             E. Temp.              6:00 pm


Thursday 4/28/16
Candidate Night                    Kamaloht          6:00 pm

Cuomo administration rejects Constitution pipeline

Cuomo administration rejects Constitution pipeline







Cuomo. (Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of the Governor)

By SCOTT WALDMAN 3:26 p.m. | Apr. 22, 2016 follow this reporter


ALBANY—The Cuomo administration has denied the water quality permits for a controversial pipeline in what has become another primary test of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s environmental legacy.

On Friday, which is Earth Day, the state Department of Environmental Conservation denied the water quality certificate the pipeline developers need to begin construction. Most of the pipeline’s federal permits have already been approved and the project developers have already shipped all of the pieces into the state and even began clearing trees in Pennsylvania.

Though the administration has approved other pipelines, the Constitution pipeline application did not contain adequate information to determine whether it would meet water quality standards, the DEC’s chief permit administrator, John Ferguson, wrote in the rejection.

“The Application fails in a meaningful way to address the significant water resource impacts that could occur from this Project and has failed to provide sufficient information to demonstrate compliance with New York State water quality standards,” wrote John Ferguson, the “Constitution's failure to adequately address these concerns limited the Department's ability to assess the impacts and conclude that the Project will comply water quality standards.”



Administration officials pointed to the inadequate depth of the pipeline in streams, as well as what they described as a “lack of detailed project plans.” They accused the Constitution developer of intentionally providing vague or incomplete responses to DEC questions.

The Constitution pipeline would have crossed hundreds of bodies of water and involved the clearing of between 100,000 to 700,000, according to figures provided by the developer and those provided by environmental groups.

Developers expected the approval for more than a year, and ordered the fabrication of the pipeline. Much of it is sitting in pieces in storage, including in the Albany region, ready to be deployed for a construction process that was to have taken about a year or less.

Friday's decision was a "disappointment," said Christopher Stockton, a spokesman for William company, the pipeline's developer.

ZBA Meeting... April 26th... 6:30 pm... KIVA

ZBA Meeting... April 26th... 6:30 pm...  KIVA

On April 26th, there will be a joint meeting with the ZBA and the Planning Board. The meeting will be the first meeting concerning the new Elementary School.
    

This is an important meeting and we urge anyone who lives near or travels through the area to attend and voice your opinions for the good of our town. It is important for us all to have a total discussion and voice now or forget it in the future as you will have lost your chance to be heard. 

             NRHS KIVA Room at 6:30 pm,  NOT the Town Hall!
*****************************************

Red Rover Update


 A few weeks ago a blog was posted about the Dover Amendment :

Red Rover, Red Rover Send Dover Right Over

Today a comment was posted that is of interest:

The Dover Amendment (state statute) provides that school projects in Massachusetts are exempt from local zoning regulations under most circumstances. I was asked to consult Town Counsel to determine whether the Building Inspector or the Zoning Board is the proper entity to determine if the Dover Amendment is applicable. The design for the school provides for a height that exceeds the zoning requirement by approximately 1.5 feet; if the Dover Amendment applies, the school building may exceed the zoning regulation.

It has been determined that the proper entity to make the decision is the Zoning Board of Appeals. The ZBA has scheduled an open public hearing for April 26. 

*****************************************
Looks like there WILL be a ZBA meeting after all! 

Questions: 

Why do the zoning regulations have a height restriction for the Village Districts in Templeton? 

What department promoted the Zoning by laws so they would pass at town meeting?

Why was town Counsel asked to determine the applicability of the Dover Amendment in regard to the site for the Elementary School, but Town Counsel was never asked reviewed  the $50 million dollar contract for the Elementary School?

Maybe people will want to attend this meeting and ask some questions? Maybe?

****************************************************
Specifically, the Dover Amendment states that “[n]o zoning ordinance or by-law shall prohibit, regulate or restrict the use of land or structures for religious purposes or for educational purposes on land owned or leased by the [state], or by a religious sect or denomination, or by a nonprofit educational corporation” — except that reasonable restrictions in eight specified areas may be imposed so long as these restrictions do not unduly hinder the religious or educational use. Those eight areas of permissible zoning restriction are: bulk of structures, height of structures, yard sizes, lot area, setbacks, open space, parking and building footprints.1

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Former FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg named in massive conspiracy and racketeering lawsuit...

Former FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg named in massive conspiracy and racketeering lawsuit involving Johnson & Johnson, a Wall Street hedge fund, and the Levaquin drug


Margaret Hamburg
 
(NaturalNews) The former head of the FDA, Margaret Hamburg, used the federal agency to run a massive conspiracy of racketeering and fraud in order to generate millions of dollars in drug company profits for her husband's hedge fund firm, alleges a damning lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

The lawsuit alleges that while acting as FDA commissioner, Margaret Hamburg engaged in a wide-ranging conspiracy to approve an extremely dangerous drug known to cause severe (and even deadly) side effects, in order to financially benefit her husband's hedge fund which held very large financial positions in Johnson & Johnson, makers of the drug. "Defendants, each and every one of them, operated a criminal conspiracy at least between the years 2009 to 2015 to fraudulently suppress warnings about the devastating effects of Levaquin," says the complaint.

"This Amended Complaint sets forth allegations that involve a conspiracy by Defendants, each and every one of them, to reap large financial returns by failing to disclose to Plaintiffs and the public at large the full extent of the devastating, life-threatening, and deadly effects of a highly dangerous pharmaceutical drug named Levaquin," reads the opening of the lawsuit. The conspiracy complaint also alleges that over 5,000 people died as a result of Hamburg's conspiracy cover-up at the FDA:

Once confirmed as FDA Commissioner, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg acted as the instrumentality that all Defendants used to perpetrate their conspiracy and racketeering enterprise by having her act illegally and outside the scope of her authority as FDA Commissioner to suppress material information to Plaintiffs and the public that Levaquin was inherently dangerous and in fact, deadly. Had this information been disclosed to Plaintiffs and the public at large, her and her husband's financial gain and net worth would have plummeted, since Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg's husband, Peter F. Brown, reaped and continues to reap huge financial gain as a result of Renaissance Technologies, L.L.C.'s holdings of Johnson & Johnson stock.

To further this conspiracy, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, acting in concert with each and every Defendant, jointly and severally, appointed officials of Johnson & Johnson to key FDA Advisory Committees and colluded with Johnson & Johnson and its officials and subsidiaries to suppress information about the dangerous and deadly effects of Levaquin. As a result, during Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg's tenure as FDA Commissioner from 2009 to 2015, over 5,000 people died as a result of consuming Levaquin and other dangerous drugs promoted, manufactured, marketed, distributed and sold by Johnson & Johnson, suffered debilitating, life-threatening, and deadly illnesses and effects. This deadly harm is continuing as Plaintiffs and thousands of other people are suffering and dying from the highly dangerous effects of Levaquin.


"Both Alkermes and Johnson & Johnson stock value increased significantly during Hamburg's tenure," reports The Daily Caller.

Margaret Hamburg "bought" her way into the FDA with financial contributions to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, alleges the lawsuit

Southbridge Board of Health member resigns after cursing resident

  • Southbridge Board of Health member resigns after cursing resident

  • Dean Cook
    Dean Cook

  • By Brian Lee
    Telegram & Gazette Staff

    Posted Apr. 21, 2016 at 7:17 PM
    Updated at 6:32 AM


    SOUTHBRIDGE - After cursing at a Southbridge resident during a heated meeting about the municipal landfill, Board of Health member Dean Cook has resigned from the five-member panel, Town Manager Ronald San Angelo said Thursday.
    Mr. Cook, a 55-year-old computer programmer with a degree in chemistry, who once worked at Clean Harbors and ran for governor as a Libertarian candidate twice during the 1990s, resigned in an email to Mr. San Angelo's assistant. A signed and dated letter of resignation is still required, Mr. San Angelo said.
    During an April 14 health board meeting, resident Erin Cummings-Lapriore, accompanied by her children, ages 2 and 5, accused officials from landfill operator Casella Waste Systems of affecting the health of area residents by contaminating groundwater and polluting private wells.
    “Get the answers to these people that have the (expletive) contaminated wells and let’s get it closed and shut down,” she said of the landfill.
    Mrs. Cummings-Lapriore then demanded that Mr. Cook not roll his eyes while she spoke, to which Mr. Cook snapped, “I’ll roll my eyes at anyone I damn well (expletive) please.”
    In an interview Thursday, Mr. Cook said his term is ending in June, and he had learned that the council's majority had decided not to reappoint him. "They supposedly had enough votes to remove me, so why make a sideshow," he said.
    Mr. Cook said he has served on town boards for 10 years, accounting for what he called "hundreds of hours of work."
    He said references to 1,4-dioxane, one of the contaminants found in private wells of homes in Charlton, as "a human toxin," while "technically accurate," were misleading. Aspirin and Vitamin A are toxic, too, he suggested. It's a matter of consumption levels, he said, and someone weighing 220 pounds would have to take in 510 grams, which is "like drinking half a liter of pure 1,4 dioxane."
    Moreover, 1,4-dioxane is not bioaccumulative, he said.
    Meanwhile, Mr. Cook said he did not believe resigning was the proper course of action, but "I don’t think anything I could do at this point would make it better."
    He asserted: "All you can do is get along with the people in front of the camera who are misquoting poorly sourced facts, repeating inaccuracies over and over and over again, and basically standing up there saying the only source is the landfill. Well, that's not true - no matter how many times you say it."
    He said a student of "Geology 101" would reason that the plume is headed toward the landfill, not away, "because the basic principle of plumes is the higher concentrations are closest to the source." In this case, the highest concentrations of known contamination in Charlton are farthest from the landfill, he said.
    Asked why he cursed at Mrs. Cummings-Lapriore, Mr. Cook said, "I was frustrated. Out of 10 years, you have a moment of bad judgment. I didn’t swear at her, I swore in front of everybody. There’s a difference, and I apologized to everybody right then."

Gardner OKs Start To Ambulance Service

Gardner OKs Start To Ambulance Service
Approves hiring of staff without waiting for presentation about it
Andrew Mansfield
Reporter

GARDNER  The City Council decided there’s no need to wait any longer for establishing a city-run basic ambulance service to operate out of the Fire Department – they are ready to make it happen.

“We have the data and we don’t need to slow it down anymore,” said Councilor Paul Tassone.

After some back and forth at the council’s Tuesday night meeting, a motion made by Councilor Matthew Vance to approve a proposal from Mayor Mark Hawke to spend $61,569 of the city’s free cash account to hire seven additional firefighters passed by an 8-2 margin.

That money order covers those salaries for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Hiring additional staff will allow the city to begin the process of running a basic ambulance service, with Advanced Life Support services involving a paramedic to still be done by MedStar, the company that currently has the city’s primary ambulance provider contract.

By way of background, the idea of operating a city-run ambulance service is not unique to Gardner, as most Worcester County cities and towns already do so.

When Gardner switched from Wood’s to MedStar as the primary ambulance provider in June 2014, the deal was made with the understanding the city would pursue running its own ambulance service, prompting over a year’s worth of information gathering and discussion over the matter.

When Mayor Mark Hawke met with the Finance Committee last week to discuss his proposal to hire more firefighters to make running an ambulance service possible, he cited a need to begin the process now as it takes months to hire new staff and send them to a fire academy for training.


Friday, April 22, 2016

3 charged with crimes related to Flint water crisis, including evidence tampering

3 charged with crimes related to Flint water crisis, including evidence tampering



The Flint water crisis has become a criminal case, with two state regulators and a city employee charged with official misconduct, evidence-tampering and other offenses over the lead contamination that alarmed the country and brought cries of racism.

For nearly 18 months, the poor, majority-black city of 100,000 used the Flint River for tap water as a way to save money — a decision made by a state-appointed emergency manager — while a new pipeline was under construction. But the water wasn't treated to control corrosion. The result: Lead was released from aging pipes and fixtures as water flowed into homes and businesses.

"This is a road back to restoring faith and confidence in all Michigan families in their government," state Attorney General Bill Schuette said Wednesday in announcing the first charges to come out of the disaster, blamed on a series of bad decisions by bureaucrats and political leaders.

He warned there will be more charges — "That I can guarantee" — and added: "No one is off the table."

Leading Physician Joins Calls for Federal Investigation of Water Fluoridation



Leading Physician Joins Calls for Federal Investigation of Water Fluoridation

 April 5th, 2016
Location: United States, National

Dr. Mark Hyman Warns of Fluoride Risks to Diabetics, Kidney Patients, and Thyroid Function

April 5, 2016:  Ellijay, Georgia: Physician and nine-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Dr. Mark Hyman has joined a growing chorus of influential leaders highlighting possible health risks from drinking fluoridated municipal water.

Dr. Mark Hyman

Known to millions of American television viewers for his media appearances, Dr. Hyman is also calling for a federal investigation of water fluoridation.

“There are numerous mechanisms by which uncontrolled dosing of fluorides through water fluoridation can potentially harm thyroid function, the body and the brain,” he says.

Hyman states, “I support federal investigative hearings looking into why our cities and towns are allowed to continue to add fluoride to public water sources and why the whole story about fluorides is only just now coming out.”

Water fluoridation is the long-controversial practice of adding fluoride chemicals to drinking water for the purpose of helping to prevent cavities.

Decades-long unease with fluoridation is accelerating rapidly with a spate of new studies and media accounts describing how ingested fluorides can potentially be harmful.

Freedom of Information Act documents also show active efforts by fluoridation promoters to direct public attention away from possible harmful impacts of fluorides.

Daniel G. Stockin, MPH, a public health professional known internationally for his work to end water fluoridation, points out that, “The National Research Council of the National Academies of Sciences says that kidney patients, diabetics, seniors, and other groups are ‘susceptible subpopulations’ especially vulnerable to harm from ingested fluorides. Yet strangely cities continue to allow uncontrolled dosing of these groups with fluorides in their water. Now we have documents showing that certain vested interest groups worked actively to keep people from grasping what is happening.

It’s no wonder a full-fledged Fluoridegate scandal is erupting.”

Thursday, April 21, 2016

More from the DOR Report - PILOT PAYMENT

More from the DOR Report - PILOT PAYMENT

 ***************************************************
So in FY 2008 TMLWP provided the Town of Templeton $125,000.

In FY 2016 how much is the PILOT payment?
In FY 2015 how much was the PILOT payment?

Is there an agreement to determine the amount TMLWP pays to the town? 

Is this agreement fair? 

Is this agreement consistent?

Is this agreement predictable? 

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Kinder Morgan shelves $3 billion pipeline project



Kinder Morgan shelves $3 billion pipeline project



Ben Garver/The Berkshire Eagle via AP
Protesters marched in Cummington on March 17 against the Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline proposed for Western Massachusetts.

Energy giant Kinder Morgan Inc. has pulled the plug on its controversial natural gas pipeline proposed through parts of Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, after failing to sign up enough utility customers and facing stiff consumer and political opposition.

Kinder Morgan said on Wednesday that its Northeast Energy Direct project didn’t receive the commitments from big customers that it needed to proceed with the $3.3 billion plan, which would involve building a 188-mile pipeline from a point west of Albany, N.Y., to Dracut.

The company’s withdrawal represents a huge victory for its array of opponents, ranging from grass-roots organizations to established environmental groups to powerful politicians. They also included residents of the many towns that would be affected by pipeline construction and activists who worried it could make New England overly dependent on natural gas.

And the decision could provide a big boost to the other large pipeline construction project proposed for New England, Spectra Energy Partners’ Access Northeast, which has the financial backing of utilities Eversource Energy and National Grid.




“There was probably room for only one of the two competing projects,” said Paul Flemming, director at ESAI Power, a research and consulting firm in Wakefield.

Kinder Morgan had submitted plans for the project to federal regulators in November, and needed their approval before starting construction.

Kinder Morgan’s initial decision to proceed with the project, through its Tennessee Gas Pipeline subsidiary, was based on existing contracts it had with some gas utilities, as well as the expectation that others would sign on to buy gas from the line. Executives at the Texas company were also counting on an unprecedented shift pursued by state regulators in New England that would allow electric customers to be charged for pipeline construction costs.

That change, driven by Governor Charlie Baker’s administration and top officials in other states, is aimed at curbing New England’s relatively high electricity rates by bringing in cheaper natural gas to fuel power plants. Their theory: the cost of new pipeline construction would be more than offset by savings in electric rates because more cheap gas could flow from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale. Roughly half of New England’s electricity comes from natural gas power plants.

“This was our big chance to pay lower energy costs, like everybody else,” said Anthony Buxton, general counsel for the Coalition to Lower Energy Costs, a group of industrial and commercial electricity consumers. “That opportunity is gone. ... For the short run and the medium run, there are going to be manufacturers in the Commonwealth who are going to be saying, ‘Whoa, wait a minute, what does this mean for us?’ ”

In a statement, Kinder Morgan suggested it did not have enough business to justify moving ahead with the project, saying “there are currently neither sufficient volumes, nor a reasonable expectation of securing them, to proceed with the project as it is currently configured.”