The wife, you know, the 'other' person who wants to rule the Island, and I went out for a Sunday afternoon ride yesterday, and one of us remarked on how more and more of the lots and edges of developed property were cleaned of brush and junk. Well that thought sent me on a little "deja vu all over again" visit to the past. When I was in grade school and high school, the self appointed grassfire lighter, bug burner and noxious weed eliminator, would head to the west side, (the Worst side)over too about Wardens Pond. There abouts, he would accidentally drop his match that he had just lit his cigarette with and also the cig. Damned if it didn't start a little grass fire! Well he would just move a few feet down the road and try again. No sense having that fire licking up his leg and denuding him of leg hair. After going thru the same routine four or five times, he would have a sheet of fast moving flame about about a hundred yards long and tongues of bright orange licking up to about thirty or forty feet in the air. Well pretty soon the siren would go off and all hands in the fire department including all male members of the school, 6th grade and above would report for duty to the fire barn which was where Aldo's is now located. There we would be equipped with a straw broom and a bucket to carry water in. We would then be loaded into trucks and delivered to a site down wind of the impending flames and up wind of a house that might be in peril. Our job was to fill the bucket with water from various sources, wells and cisterns mostly, stick the broom it in to get it, the broom good and wet, and then go get between the flames and the house and defend said edifice from those greedy,hot, devouring little tongues of flame. Most people kept the grass trimmed very short around the perimeter of the house just fore this reason. They used various forms of accoutrement's. Some times it was a scythe and sickle, and in some places a newfangled thing called a lawn mower! Damnedest thing you ever saw! It did nothing useful, but turned perfectly good blades of grass that would have done a fine job filling the haystack, into useless little pieces of grass that the cows wouldn't even eat! But I digress FAR afield. Most folks owned a varied lot of grass eating animals and they did an unusually good job of keeping things trimmed very short. So mostly all we had to defend against were the flying pieces of grass and straw that would find their way to the rooftops, This was a good place for all we nimble youngsters to be positioned so that we didn't accidentally get eaten by those voracious flames.
Daisies you say? What's with the title of "Daisies"? Well some of the good things that happened because of these unexpected fires, was that a lot of the not so good weeds were toasted and that no underbrush was allowed to accumulate. It also did a wonderful job of keeping the stone walls clear of brush. Now early in March, wherever you looked you would see blackened fields all over the Island. In a few places you could even see faint blushes of green trying to break out of their places of hiding. Give these fields a few weeks of rain and some warm weather, and by the time the Graduation exercises at the school rolled around, there were just ab-so-lute-ly millions of daisies of all kinds and colors proliferating in every square inch of Block Island's fields!! It was an awe inspiring sight. The kids at the school would go out with cars and trucks, and scissors and knives, and come back in a few hours with enough daisies to completely cover the wall behind the stage where the Graduation exercises were to take place that night! A grid of thin boards covered with chicken wire was erected against the back wall and the flowers were tucked in the openings by the more artistic of the female members of the school populace. Some times they even spelled out words or even pictures. IT WAS FANTASTIC! It was as close to the Rose Parade as we would ever get to here on BI. And it was "woe" of the highest order if you were afflicted by the pollen distributed throughout the room! There was always a full compliment of June Bugs winging their way busily around the room, to also add too the evenings entertainment. The ladies DID NOT like them landing in their hair. It was always a fun thing to watch them trying to remove them from the hair nest. Some tried to be oh so discreet about it, and others just yanked, hauled,screamed a lot. Sure was funny to us little guys. Damn, they were only June Bugs! But as the farming died out, along with the fishing, and people moved away from the Island, the fields were slowly given over to the assortment of "trees", shad, bayberry etc. That now infest the Island.
So as I ride around the Island on a sunny Sunday afternoon, in my minds eye I can still see those fields loaded with the daisies, and the possibility that in the near future, some semblance of those fields might again re-appear for all to enjoy as much as my generation did! SO THERE! No politics! TIFN Everett
4/18/2005
4/08/2005
Mr Smith's Letter- Rebuttal- NOT Forthcoming!
Hi All, In the last previous post I said that I was going to have a rebuttal to each of Mr. Smiths points in his letter. I do have one for each, but after talking witha couple of people involved with the West Side plan, it seems that most all of the salient points have been addressed to all those concerneds(sp,use?) satisfaction. So in the best interests of the project going forward without any more setbacks or delays, I am going to drop persuing this whole line of inquiry. Now some of you are going to say that I am chickening out and that may be. BUT! I don't want to be the one that keeps all these twenty families from getting a home!
I only have one other thing to say, and that is that Mr.Smith does not have the intrests of the lower, lower-middleclass people of the Island as his first or even second priority! Enough said!! TIFN Everett
I only have one other thing to say, and that is that Mr.Smith does not have the intrests of the lower, lower-middleclass people of the Island as his first or even second priority! Enough said!! TIFN Everett
4/07/2005
MR. SMITH'S LETTER
Rebuttal to follow in a day or so....
P.O. Box 984
Block Island RI 02807
401/466-5995
February 22, 2005
Gerald Pierce
Block Island Economic Development
PO Box 619
Block Island RI 02807
Dear Gerry:
I am writing to make suggestions about the West Side Road project. My original concerns focused on the environmental impact. Since learning more about the project, I now have grave concerns about the impact on affordable housing, the impact on the owner-residents, and the impact on the community’s affordable housing needs in the future.
This is one of the three largest single building developments in the Island’s entire history. This project involves the town’s resources and public funding. Many of our decisions will be irrevocable. We have to get it right and come up with a plant that a wide consensus of the community supports. My interest, since I first heard about the project, has been to make it one that truly meets our needs, serves the needs of the future owners of the units, and respects the natural environment that each of us here is fortunate to experience.
In that spirit, I make the following suggestions:
1. This site has a steep ravine that the proposed plan seems to make no allowances for. It would be unwise - and incompatible with the values of Block Island – to alter, remove, or flatten the natural contours of the land.
2. This can be done by clustering some of the units and combining four to eight of them into single buildings. This will provide variety in the neighborhood and allow more open space – for recreation, gardening, and a sense of living in sync with the natural environment.
3. With such topography and for other reasons, it is not wise or necessary that every house have a basement.
4. Combining some of the units in one or two buildings allows for some occupants to save on heating costs. It will save on installation of sewer, water, and utilities, making the units more affordable. It will increase the size of yards for owners who want and need them. It will increase the number of residents with great views. As currently planned, the project has 70 percent or more of the homeowners looking at other houses from their windows, not at the Island’s natural beauty. Imaginative siting of the units can take care of this and save money as well.
5. Having all units of identical sizes is not in the interests of the future occupants nor does it help meet the housing needs of the Island to the maximum extent possible. A person living alone may not need two bedrooms, a second floor, and a basement for many years into the future, if ever. Yet to live in the proposed neighborhood, middle-income buyers would have no choice but to buy a two-bedroom unit. It is true that the basements and second floors would be unfinished, but the owners would have heating costs for that unused space. Their mortgage payments would reflect the additional construction costs. And what of buyers who expand their families and need three or four bedrooms? There is no place for them to move. And what of middle-aged couples with children who want to downsize when the children leave home? They will either have to stay in the same two-bedroom residence where they are or move off the Island.
6. By the same token, the lot sizes should not be uniform, but varied according to the unit sizes, to the topography of the land, and to wise planning. Some residents will want a traditional yard, but others will prefer a small plot because they will save on the purchase price and save the time and expense on yard maintenance. If everyone’s lot size is the same, no one’s needs will be met. If every lot size is the same, it is impossible to build within the contours of the land.
7. Clustering and combining some units will open up a significant amount of communal space. This will give young children space to play without having to cross West Side Road to the playground or to be driven elsewhere. It may also allow enough open space so that middle-school children and young teens to play ball or other games in their own neighborhood. It will allow all the children to grow up surrounded by the natural environment, as Island kids have for decades. If we make our single largest housing neighborhood one where this is not possible, we may lose the distinctive Island ethic of appreciation for the natural surroundings. The idea of same-sized lots for everyone is a suburban model, not an Island model. Knowledgeable planners have said that individual front lawns are the most wasted and unused space in America. On an island we obviously have limited space.
8. It’s important that affordable housing have opportunities for owners to downsize or upgrade. But the project as planned does not allow for that. That means that there will be a minimal amount of mobility in the neighborhood. There will be little turnover. Occupants will be locked in, and when we need to locate middle-income school teachers, medical workers, hospitality employees, or town employees in the future, the West Side Road project will have provided us no vacancies at all.
9. One of our most pressing affordable-housing needs is units for new school teachers, police officers, and health center employees who are single or childless and need housing for a couple of years until they decide whether they like living and working here. There are no units for those persons in the current plan.
10. In fact, as I understand the current qualification requirements, the newcomers would not even qualify for the ownership units. That means that we cannot use this new development of 20 affordable ownership units as a recruiting tool for the positions that we need to fill shortly.
11. Our second most pressing need is rental units for short-term employees who come to the Island. There are no units for these persons in the current plan. Substituting three to six rental units of varying sizes, in place of some ownership units, would meet this need and allow prospective buyers to become part of the neighborhood while they wait for an ownership residence to come on the market. It would allow flexibility for owners whose family situations change because of divorce or death or other factors. Management of rental units may be a challenge, but there are creative solutions: One would be to have the owner of one unit act as a rental manager (and thereby offset monthly mortgage payments). Another would be to combine rental management of the Searles Ball and West Side Road developments. A third would be to contract rental management to the Block Island Housing Board. Still a fourth is to contract it to the Women’s Development Corp.
12. The steep grade of the roads in the proposed plan may not meet town specifications. At any rate, it raises risks. And it raises construction and maintenance costs. It would be a shame if the homeowners association of this new neighborhood is saddled immediately with large expenses because of a road washout.
13. It is hard to see that emergency equipment can pass through the inclines currently proposed. Reconfiguring the units will eliminate this risk. The fire department should be asked to take a close look at the road configuration and provide a written report on whether it allows for necessary emergency access. That report should discuss whether the alternative cul-de-sac plan is an acceptable alternative.
14. The road in the current plan does not seem to allow adequate setbacks from the pond and wetlands, as required by town specification. They may not meet state Department of Environmental Management specifications.
15. The proposed plan contemplates an addition of 40 automobiles. The Island’s fragile environment can hardly accommodate that. The plan seems to send a message that two automobiles for each residence is the expected norm. The neighborhood would be enhanced for the residents, especially the children, if accommodations for some motor vehicles are in a cluster lot, much like the Searles Ball housing and the Old Harbor Meadow complex. Not every unit needs to have auto parking right next to it. By clustering some of the cars, there will be less wear and tear on the land, less uncontrolled run-off of oils and other auto discharges into the fragile wetland by West Side Road. And the neighborhood will be improved aesthetically.
16. And yet, the proposed plan seems to have no accommodations for visitor parking. By clustering some of the residents’ parking, that space could be used for owner-occupants and for some visitor parking. This might make the right-of-way to the Greenway trail accessible to more people. Why not provide space for one automobile adjoining some units and create a small cluster lot for other automobiles. The plan could also designate additional space for additional parking if it becomes necessary in the future?
17. A vast amount of the proposed plan is devoted to automobiles, either coming and going to the residences or parked. In fact, there is almost as much space devoted to motor vehicles as to human beings. This is an inefficient use of the acreage, and incompatible with the values of the community.
18. In the current unclustered proposals, most if not all of the units will not have adequate setbacks to allow an owner easily to expand the footprint or otherwise personalize the house. He or she would need to get zoning approval for a modest expansion. This would require moderate-income property owners probably to hire lawyers, engineers, and designers for a modest expansion. Clustering the units eliminates the need for setback variances in the future.
When I met with you and Mary Jane in January, she said that there would be no paving and no central air conditioning; I trust that this remains part of the plan.
Under the Community Development Block Grant interim financing grant, the project managers, before money is spent, must conduct an environmental review, with public comments. This provides the opportunity for us to consider these suggestions – and suggestions from others – and come up with a plan that a wide consensus of Islanders can support. We will then be able to have the plan presented to the Planning Board and Zoning Board with widespread support for it in the community.
The state agencies responsible for funding this project have told me that all of these modifications to the proposal can be considered at this point in the process and that the project plans can be altered accordingly. I plan to present these suggestions to the Planning Board. It would speed the process if we could reach an agreement before the project goes before the Planning Board.
Time is of the essence, for two reasons. The community needs the affordable housing right away. And all of us want to have an Island-based non-profit organization develop this project and fulfill the town’s needs rather than to risk leaving affordable-housing development to commercial developers who may use provisions of state law to bring to the community a bogus “affordable housing” venture.
Yours truly,
Robert Ellis Smith
Member, New Shoreham Town Council
Cc: Mary Jane Balser
P.O. Box 984
Block Island RI 02807
401/466-5995
February 22, 2005
Gerald Pierce
Block Island Economic Development
PO Box 619
Block Island RI 02807
Dear Gerry:
I am writing to make suggestions about the West Side Road project. My original concerns focused on the environmental impact. Since learning more about the project, I now have grave concerns about the impact on affordable housing, the impact on the owner-residents, and the impact on the community’s affordable housing needs in the future.
This is one of the three largest single building developments in the Island’s entire history. This project involves the town’s resources and public funding. Many of our decisions will be irrevocable. We have to get it right and come up with a plant that a wide consensus of the community supports. My interest, since I first heard about the project, has been to make it one that truly meets our needs, serves the needs of the future owners of the units, and respects the natural environment that each of us here is fortunate to experience.
In that spirit, I make the following suggestions:
1. This site has a steep ravine that the proposed plan seems to make no allowances for. It would be unwise - and incompatible with the values of Block Island – to alter, remove, or flatten the natural contours of the land.
2. This can be done by clustering some of the units and combining four to eight of them into single buildings. This will provide variety in the neighborhood and allow more open space – for recreation, gardening, and a sense of living in sync with the natural environment.
3. With such topography and for other reasons, it is not wise or necessary that every house have a basement.
4. Combining some of the units in one or two buildings allows for some occupants to save on heating costs. It will save on installation of sewer, water, and utilities, making the units more affordable. It will increase the size of yards for owners who want and need them. It will increase the number of residents with great views. As currently planned, the project has 70 percent or more of the homeowners looking at other houses from their windows, not at the Island’s natural beauty. Imaginative siting of the units can take care of this and save money as well.
5. Having all units of identical sizes is not in the interests of the future occupants nor does it help meet the housing needs of the Island to the maximum extent possible. A person living alone may not need two bedrooms, a second floor, and a basement for many years into the future, if ever. Yet to live in the proposed neighborhood, middle-income buyers would have no choice but to buy a two-bedroom unit. It is true that the basements and second floors would be unfinished, but the owners would have heating costs for that unused space. Their mortgage payments would reflect the additional construction costs. And what of buyers who expand their families and need three or four bedrooms? There is no place for them to move. And what of middle-aged couples with children who want to downsize when the children leave home? They will either have to stay in the same two-bedroom residence where they are or move off the Island.
6. By the same token, the lot sizes should not be uniform, but varied according to the unit sizes, to the topography of the land, and to wise planning. Some residents will want a traditional yard, but others will prefer a small plot because they will save on the purchase price and save the time and expense on yard maintenance. If everyone’s lot size is the same, no one’s needs will be met. If every lot size is the same, it is impossible to build within the contours of the land.
7. Clustering and combining some units will open up a significant amount of communal space. This will give young children space to play without having to cross West Side Road to the playground or to be driven elsewhere. It may also allow enough open space so that middle-school children and young teens to play ball or other games in their own neighborhood. It will allow all the children to grow up surrounded by the natural environment, as Island kids have for decades. If we make our single largest housing neighborhood one where this is not possible, we may lose the distinctive Island ethic of appreciation for the natural surroundings. The idea of same-sized lots for everyone is a suburban model, not an Island model. Knowledgeable planners have said that individual front lawns are the most wasted and unused space in America. On an island we obviously have limited space.
8. It’s important that affordable housing have opportunities for owners to downsize or upgrade. But the project as planned does not allow for that. That means that there will be a minimal amount of mobility in the neighborhood. There will be little turnover. Occupants will be locked in, and when we need to locate middle-income school teachers, medical workers, hospitality employees, or town employees in the future, the West Side Road project will have provided us no vacancies at all.
9. One of our most pressing affordable-housing needs is units for new school teachers, police officers, and health center employees who are single or childless and need housing for a couple of years until they decide whether they like living and working here. There are no units for those persons in the current plan.
10. In fact, as I understand the current qualification requirements, the newcomers would not even qualify for the ownership units. That means that we cannot use this new development of 20 affordable ownership units as a recruiting tool for the positions that we need to fill shortly.
11. Our second most pressing need is rental units for short-term employees who come to the Island. There are no units for these persons in the current plan. Substituting three to six rental units of varying sizes, in place of some ownership units, would meet this need and allow prospective buyers to become part of the neighborhood while they wait for an ownership residence to come on the market. It would allow flexibility for owners whose family situations change because of divorce or death or other factors. Management of rental units may be a challenge, but there are creative solutions: One would be to have the owner of one unit act as a rental manager (and thereby offset monthly mortgage payments). Another would be to combine rental management of the Searles Ball and West Side Road developments. A third would be to contract rental management to the Block Island Housing Board. Still a fourth is to contract it to the Women’s Development Corp.
12. The steep grade of the roads in the proposed plan may not meet town specifications. At any rate, it raises risks. And it raises construction and maintenance costs. It would be a shame if the homeowners association of this new neighborhood is saddled immediately with large expenses because of a road washout.
13. It is hard to see that emergency equipment can pass through the inclines currently proposed. Reconfiguring the units will eliminate this risk. The fire department should be asked to take a close look at the road configuration and provide a written report on whether it allows for necessary emergency access. That report should discuss whether the alternative cul-de-sac plan is an acceptable alternative.
14. The road in the current plan does not seem to allow adequate setbacks from the pond and wetlands, as required by town specification. They may not meet state Department of Environmental Management specifications.
15. The proposed plan contemplates an addition of 40 automobiles. The Island’s fragile environment can hardly accommodate that. The plan seems to send a message that two automobiles for each residence is the expected norm. The neighborhood would be enhanced for the residents, especially the children, if accommodations for some motor vehicles are in a cluster lot, much like the Searles Ball housing and the Old Harbor Meadow complex. Not every unit needs to have auto parking right next to it. By clustering some of the cars, there will be less wear and tear on the land, less uncontrolled run-off of oils and other auto discharges into the fragile wetland by West Side Road. And the neighborhood will be improved aesthetically.
16. And yet, the proposed plan seems to have no accommodations for visitor parking. By clustering some of the residents’ parking, that space could be used for owner-occupants and for some visitor parking. This might make the right-of-way to the Greenway trail accessible to more people. Why not provide space for one automobile adjoining some units and create a small cluster lot for other automobiles. The plan could also designate additional space for additional parking if it becomes necessary in the future?
17. A vast amount of the proposed plan is devoted to automobiles, either coming and going to the residences or parked. In fact, there is almost as much space devoted to motor vehicles as to human beings. This is an inefficient use of the acreage, and incompatible with the values of the community.
18. In the current unclustered proposals, most if not all of the units will not have adequate setbacks to allow an owner easily to expand the footprint or otherwise personalize the house. He or she would need to get zoning approval for a modest expansion. This would require moderate-income property owners probably to hire lawyers, engineers, and designers for a modest expansion. Clustering the units eliminates the need for setback variances in the future.
When I met with you and Mary Jane in January, she said that there would be no paving and no central air conditioning; I trust that this remains part of the plan.
Under the Community Development Block Grant interim financing grant, the project managers, before money is spent, must conduct an environmental review, with public comments. This provides the opportunity for us to consider these suggestions – and suggestions from others – and come up with a plan that a wide consensus of Islanders can support. We will then be able to have the plan presented to the Planning Board and Zoning Board with widespread support for it in the community.
The state agencies responsible for funding this project have told me that all of these modifications to the proposal can be considered at this point in the process and that the project plans can be altered accordingly. I plan to present these suggestions to the Planning Board. It would speed the process if we could reach an agreement before the project goes before the Planning Board.
Time is of the essence, for two reasons. The community needs the affordable housing right away. And all of us want to have an Island-based non-profit organization develop this project and fulfill the town’s needs rather than to risk leaving affordable-housing development to commercial developers who may use provisions of state law to bring to the community a bogus “affordable housing” venture.
Yours truly,
Robert Ellis Smith
Member, New Shoreham Town Council
Cc: Mary Jane Balser
4/03/2005
Multiplying Blogs
Better beware when you turn on your computer because the Island blogs are multiplying like rabbits! Here is another one. http://www.adriansisle.blogspot.com . Some one with an undecipherable email address sent me this one last night. Well at least he/she is not in my address book so it might well have come from Osama himself! Anyway it is another view although a little hardline!TIFN OK I'm to stupid to make the link work, but if you type the address into the Gogle search block it comes up and then you can
bookmark it!DUH!a
bookmark it!DUH!a
3/31/2005
The Council and the Road Contract
Hi all, I think a lot more of us should have gone to the Council meeting last night. Apparently the contract with the State about the road takeover, came up and there was heated discussion about it. It looks like from sitting on the sidelines, that the Town Manager/Council is trying to make the TRUE cost of this fiasco disappear into the nether regions of the projected new budget for this coming fiscal year. What SHOULD happen here is that every single damn dime and penny to be spent on the maintenance and upkeep of the roads should be in a separate category. That way we will all have an accurate depiction of just what it is going to cost us. If we don't get it right this time, right now, I doubt very much the State will agree to re-negotiate it at a later date. They KNOW that they are getting the very best of this screwy deal! Name one other town in this totally crooked state that has this same deal?
And BTW,has the Town Manager recently taken a bunch of courses in the world of Finance? If not, where does she derive the power to assume to direct the machinations of the finance office. She has NO BUSINESS trying to RUN that Office! That's what the Finance Director was hired to do. And why was it that last night when Councilor Balser brought up a couple of 'suggestions' as to what 'might' be done in the finance office, She was accused of trying to "run the Finance Office" by our First Warden Jack Savoie? But when another councilor was asked to give a legal opinion, no one accused him of trying to take over the Town lawyers job? Why that little discrepancy Jack? I think you have let your job title go to your head. What happened to that down to earth guy that started out on the council a few years ago? Been swayed to someone else's way of thinking? You folks all need to put all your perceived differences aside while you sit in those seats and do what you were sent there to do! And while you are at it , rein in Mr Smith as far as the West Side Road housing complex is concerned. It doesn't look good for ANY of you from where I sit! TIFN Everett
And BTW,has the Town Manager recently taken a bunch of courses in the world of Finance? If not, where does she derive the power to assume to direct the machinations of the finance office. She has NO BUSINESS trying to RUN that Office! That's what the Finance Director was hired to do. And why was it that last night when Councilor Balser brought up a couple of 'suggestions' as to what 'might' be done in the finance office, She was accused of trying to "run the Finance Office" by our First Warden Jack Savoie? But when another councilor was asked to give a legal opinion, no one accused him of trying to take over the Town lawyers job? Why that little discrepancy Jack? I think you have let your job title go to your head. What happened to that down to earth guy that started out on the council a few years ago? Been swayed to someone else's way of thinking? You folks all need to put all your perceived differences aside while you sit in those seats and do what you were sent there to do! And while you are at it , rein in Mr Smith as far as the West Side Road housing complex is concerned. It doesn't look good for ANY of you from where I sit! TIFN Everett
New Housing--Disaster in the making!
Well folks, this is addressed to the 20 to 50 young familes who are vying for one of the twenty homes to be built next to the E. Searles Ball complex. You had ALL better get out your letter writing materials, and in your most earnest and vociferous voice, let this Council know in the strongest terms you are able to muster, that you are incensed by what is going on behind the scenes! Your elected by 'proclamation' Council member, Mr Robert Ellis Smith has taken it upon himself, to inject himself into the process of bringing the project to fruition. Only in his case it seems he is working in the opposite direction. He is trying to get this project killed by putting himself where he was not asked to go, and has no business being! I don't recall Council members having to be in the vetting process for any of the other housing complexes that are now completed. Which of them was it that sheparded the Ambrose lane project? NONE! If you are one of the hopefuls, you NEED to get those letters written and it needs to be done and hand delivered to the Town Hall TOMORROW! This is not something that can be put off! There is to be a meeting between the people who wield the money, and MJ Balser and the aforementioned Council member sometime in the VERY NEAR future. The whole project could hinge on what he says to these people up in Providence. He is up there all the time and is in 'bed' with some of them to some degree. You all know how he feels about the project by his deeds and actions. He has forgotten just exactly what the hell he is supposed to be doing in that office! You are supposed to be looking out for the people of this town who live here, not kow-towing to the amorphous crowd of monied people from everywhere else! Look to your own backyard and stop trying to stab a bunch of fine, hardworking, young families in the back! STAND UP AND BE COUNTED MR. SMITH!!! I'M TOTALLY PISSED!! Everett
Navy Life -- #3 Final in this venue
After this one I'll move on to better stuff hopefully! And so it continues;
When you had committed a particularly heinous act that incurred the Company Commanders ire, he had a way of wreaking havoc on you that I still remember to this day. He would have you go to your locker and take out your seabag and commence to fill it up with everything you had in that locker. It went into the bag in the prescribed Navy order thank you very much! Then you would pick it up and go collect your 1903 .30-06 caliber bolt action WWI, 8.5 lb rifle and proceed to the aforementioned "grinder". Once there, you would commence to make as many circuits of said premesis as he thought necessary to bring you into line, and to help you mend your ways! He always preceded his awarding of punishment with a small speech that went something like this. "Foul Balls! The Navy does NOT like foul balls and I don't like foul balls, and Littlefield, YOU are a FOUL BALL!! Now get out there on the double and go round and round until I think you can stay within the bounds of the playing field"! It was absolutely miserable out there doing this in the middle of the afternoon for a couple of hours. It was, after all, June through September in the South! Oh yes, I forgot to mention one thing. Before you started loading up your seabag for this land-bound voyage, you would have to dress yourself in your very best set of Dress Blues! This is a dead of winter uniform too. Oh man did they ever smell by the time you had finished paying the price for your transgressions! This happened to me on two seperate occasions, and after the second one, I "saw the light" and realized that I should probably keep my mouth shut for the remainder of my incarceration. This I did admirably, considering that I was regarded as some sort of a wise ass by the powers that be.
Well after 16 weeks of being verbally assualted by the Company Commander and his henchmen, and having had our poor feeble brains stuffed with Naval lore of all types, we were deemed ready to graduate and to go inflict ourselves on the poor unsuspecting Fleet. Graduation day finally came and as our company, 252 lined up on the grinder with all the other company's, The Drill Team, me included passed in review with all the other graduating companies following us. For this day only, the Drill Team got to use chrome plated rifles with bayonets attached. They really flashed and looked good as we marched by twirling and flipping them in the air. For most of the guys, it was the beginning of a two week leave before reporting to their next duty station or ship. For a few others and myself, we got to hang around good old Bainbridge for another 6 months, because our schools didn't start out in Norman Oklahoma until April 1st.
In the intervening 6 months I found out that I did not like working in the Galley as a full time vocation! I had managed to escape during service week but now I was just a lowly old swabby like the rest of them waiting to go somewhere. That three month period of "mess cooking" was a miserable affair for the most part. There I was, right back in the same exact building where I had been eating for the last four months, only now I was one of the cooks. Well, not really a cook, more like a cooks slave you might say. We did all the stuff the cooks didn't like to do like peeling thousands of pounds of potatoes,washing dishes, trays, silverware etc., swabbing the deck. All the rotten menial jobs. One day I got promoted to the line where the Waves were served. Those are the Lady sailors in case you didn't know. We were to stand there at parade rest with a serving spoon and put the food in the appropriate compartment on the tray. You were NOT allowed to speak to them, nor were you to make eye contact with them. Well after I hd been there for a couple of weeks I started sneaking peeks at them to remind myself what a girl looked like! One day while sizing up a fine looking young lady, I managed to put a big spoonful of whipped cream right smack in the middle of her stewed tomatoes, insted of the strawberries where it should have gone! I had been checking this gal out for a few days and wondering if I had the gall and gumption to defy orders and say something to her.That chance was taken from me when she looked down at her tray, then up at me, and then said in her New York accent, "You dumb son of a Bi---, it's supposed to be on the strawberries"! She concluded her tirade with a few other "expletives deleted" that I hadn't up till that time heard come out of a girls mouth! Well there went my budding, in my own mind, romance! I didn't know such a sweet-faced young girl could talk like that! None that I had ever known talked that way. Being the thoughtful and gentlemanly person I was at the time, I immediately and without thinking of the consequences of my impending speech, answered her in kind, with all the Navy jargon, lingo and swearwords I had picked up in my woefully short Naval career! Needless to say, the large hand of the Chief avenging Cook descended onto my shirt collar and I was physically yanked away from the serving line. I was dragged/pushed to the DEEP SINK room where I was to spend the rest of my mess cooking career. The DEEP SINK room had this particular name because it had five or six very large, very deep stainless steel sinks in there. Now there was at least one logical thing in this mans Navy! This was the place where all the big old cooking pots and pans came too, to be restored to pristine condition before the next meal. They had to sparkle like they had just been bought brand new. This entailed some kind of steel wool that looked like it had been made out of a piece of chain link fence, and about twenty foot pounds of elbow grease per pot or pan. This was true of all pots and pans except for the sheet pans on which the cake and rolls were cooked. The Cook's liked them nice and black but still hygienically spotless. Needless to say I guess, is that the first thing I did was to screw up and get two of them back to that store-bought brightness before I was apprehended!
This room was a good approximation of Brer Rabbits briar patch. Nobody wanted to get put in there till the actual deed was done. It has been one of the best kept secrets in the US NAVY! Why do I say that? 'Cause this was the place that ALL the leftover food came too, to be disposed after the meal! Steaks, porkchops, all sorts of veggies, and best of all, all the left over desserts! It was all the stuff you could never get enough of out in front of the serving line. Now here it was , mana from heaven! Man, now when they had strawberry shortcake, I didn't have to worry about getting it in the right slot on the tray, all I had to worry about was which hand to plunge into the berry or cream pot and stuffing it in my mouth by the HAND FULL before the other nine guys ate it all up! One other advantage was that we didn't have to be there in the sinks thill thirty minutes after the chow hall opened. Then we were usually out of there an hour before the rest of the guys got through cleaning the whole chow hall from top to bottom. Every Day! The Navy was fanatical about cleanliness in body as well as domicile!
This unvarying routine was carried out with monotonous regularity until my three month tour funally came to an end and I was reprieved and sent on to my next job at good old Bainbridge MD. As I remember, I spent the next three months being what my rich Uncle euphemistically called a "compartment cleaner". Thats a nice sounding name for "MAID"! I swept, swabbed, scrubbed and cleaned like a fiend for the remaining time I spent there.
I did manage to get on the Base drill tem for that last three month stay there, and got to go on a lot of places around the area putting on demonstrations of our prowess with a chromed rifle with a 12 inch chromed bayonet on the business end. It is actually pretty impressive to watch those spinning rifles as they are tossed back and forth to each other with those shiny blades reflecting the sun. Lots of oohing and aahing as the watchers wondered who was going to get there nose cut off, or get stabbed in the heart first! Well the end of my house-cleaning career finally arrived and we were sent off to Norman Oklahoma where the Navy owned a prep school for prospective aircraft maintenance folks, one of which I so dearly wanted to be!
Next duty station was to be Quonset Pt. RI of all places!!
When you had committed a particularly heinous act that incurred the Company Commanders ire, he had a way of wreaking havoc on you that I still remember to this day. He would have you go to your locker and take out your seabag and commence to fill it up with everything you had in that locker. It went into the bag in the prescribed Navy order thank you very much! Then you would pick it up and go collect your 1903 .30-06 caliber bolt action WWI, 8.5 lb rifle and proceed to the aforementioned "grinder". Once there, you would commence to make as many circuits of said premesis as he thought necessary to bring you into line, and to help you mend your ways! He always preceded his awarding of punishment with a small speech that went something like this. "Foul Balls! The Navy does NOT like foul balls and I don't like foul balls, and Littlefield, YOU are a FOUL BALL!! Now get out there on the double and go round and round until I think you can stay within the bounds of the playing field"! It was absolutely miserable out there doing this in the middle of the afternoon for a couple of hours. It was, after all, June through September in the South! Oh yes, I forgot to mention one thing. Before you started loading up your seabag for this land-bound voyage, you would have to dress yourself in your very best set of Dress Blues! This is a dead of winter uniform too. Oh man did they ever smell by the time you had finished paying the price for your transgressions! This happened to me on two seperate occasions, and after the second one, I "saw the light" and realized that I should probably keep my mouth shut for the remainder of my incarceration. This I did admirably, considering that I was regarded as some sort of a wise ass by the powers that be.
Well after 16 weeks of being verbally assualted by the Company Commander and his henchmen, and having had our poor feeble brains stuffed with Naval lore of all types, we were deemed ready to graduate and to go inflict ourselves on the poor unsuspecting Fleet. Graduation day finally came and as our company, 252 lined up on the grinder with all the other company's, The Drill Team, me included passed in review with all the other graduating companies following us. For this day only, the Drill Team got to use chrome plated rifles with bayonets attached. They really flashed and looked good as we marched by twirling and flipping them in the air. For most of the guys, it was the beginning of a two week leave before reporting to their next duty station or ship. For a few others and myself, we got to hang around good old Bainbridge for another 6 months, because our schools didn't start out in Norman Oklahoma until April 1st.
In the intervening 6 months I found out that I did not like working in the Galley as a full time vocation! I had managed to escape during service week but now I was just a lowly old swabby like the rest of them waiting to go somewhere. That three month period of "mess cooking" was a miserable affair for the most part. There I was, right back in the same exact building where I had been eating for the last four months, only now I was one of the cooks. Well, not really a cook, more like a cooks slave you might say. We did all the stuff the cooks didn't like to do like peeling thousands of pounds of potatoes,washing dishes, trays, silverware etc., swabbing the deck. All the rotten menial jobs. One day I got promoted to the line where the Waves were served. Those are the Lady sailors in case you didn't know. We were to stand there at parade rest with a serving spoon and put the food in the appropriate compartment on the tray. You were NOT allowed to speak to them, nor were you to make eye contact with them. Well after I hd been there for a couple of weeks I started sneaking peeks at them to remind myself what a girl looked like! One day while sizing up a fine looking young lady, I managed to put a big spoonful of whipped cream right smack in the middle of her stewed tomatoes, insted of the strawberries where it should have gone! I had been checking this gal out for a few days and wondering if I had the gall and gumption to defy orders and say something to her.That chance was taken from me when she looked down at her tray, then up at me, and then said in her New York accent, "You dumb son of a Bi---, it's supposed to be on the strawberries"! She concluded her tirade with a few other "expletives deleted" that I hadn't up till that time heard come out of a girls mouth! Well there went my budding, in my own mind, romance! I didn't know such a sweet-faced young girl could talk like that! None that I had ever known talked that way. Being the thoughtful and gentlemanly person I was at the time, I immediately and without thinking of the consequences of my impending speech, answered her in kind, with all the Navy jargon, lingo and swearwords I had picked up in my woefully short Naval career! Needless to say, the large hand of the Chief avenging Cook descended onto my shirt collar and I was physically yanked away from the serving line. I was dragged/pushed to the DEEP SINK room where I was to spend the rest of my mess cooking career. The DEEP SINK room had this particular name because it had five or six very large, very deep stainless steel sinks in there. Now there was at least one logical thing in this mans Navy! This was the place where all the big old cooking pots and pans came too, to be restored to pristine condition before the next meal. They had to sparkle like they had just been bought brand new. This entailed some kind of steel wool that looked like it had been made out of a piece of chain link fence, and about twenty foot pounds of elbow grease per pot or pan. This was true of all pots and pans except for the sheet pans on which the cake and rolls were cooked. The Cook's liked them nice and black but still hygienically spotless. Needless to say I guess, is that the first thing I did was to screw up and get two of them back to that store-bought brightness before I was apprehended!
This room was a good approximation of Brer Rabbits briar patch. Nobody wanted to get put in there till the actual deed was done. It has been one of the best kept secrets in the US NAVY! Why do I say that? 'Cause this was the place that ALL the leftover food came too, to be disposed after the meal! Steaks, porkchops, all sorts of veggies, and best of all, all the left over desserts! It was all the stuff you could never get enough of out in front of the serving line. Now here it was , mana from heaven! Man, now when they had strawberry shortcake, I didn't have to worry about getting it in the right slot on the tray, all I had to worry about was which hand to plunge into the berry or cream pot and stuffing it in my mouth by the HAND FULL before the other nine guys ate it all up! One other advantage was that we didn't have to be there in the sinks thill thirty minutes after the chow hall opened. Then we were usually out of there an hour before the rest of the guys got through cleaning the whole chow hall from top to bottom. Every Day! The Navy was fanatical about cleanliness in body as well as domicile!
This unvarying routine was carried out with monotonous regularity until my three month tour funally came to an end and I was reprieved and sent on to my next job at good old Bainbridge MD. As I remember, I spent the next three months being what my rich Uncle euphemistically called a "compartment cleaner". Thats a nice sounding name for "MAID"! I swept, swabbed, scrubbed and cleaned like a fiend for the remaining time I spent there.
I did manage to get on the Base drill tem for that last three month stay there, and got to go on a lot of places around the area putting on demonstrations of our prowess with a chromed rifle with a 12 inch chromed bayonet on the business end. It is actually pretty impressive to watch those spinning rifles as they are tossed back and forth to each other with those shiny blades reflecting the sun. Lots of oohing and aahing as the watchers wondered who was going to get there nose cut off, or get stabbed in the heart first! Well the end of my house-cleaning career finally arrived and we were sent off to Norman Oklahoma where the Navy owned a prep school for prospective aircraft maintenance folks, one of which I so dearly wanted to be!
Next duty station was to be Quonset Pt. RI of all places!!
3/26/2005
Spring Poetry...Well,... Almost
Does anyone out there have a short/funny/??/ whatever poem concerning the advent of Spring? I have two little short one I learned as a kid. After reading them you will see why they were aimed at the juve set. Forthwith, I give you #1.
Spring has sprung,
and the grass has riz,
I wonder where the birdies is?
#2
Little Robin Red Breast
Sitting on a pole,
Wiggle, Wiggle, went his tail,
Phhuuut,went his hole!
Well, I did warn you! If there is anyone out there offended but this bit of 'smut', let me know post haste and I'll remove it if the demand is such that it is warranted. So come on all you poet laureates, bring forth those words for us all to hear! TIFN Everett
Spring has sprung,
and the grass has riz,
I wonder where the birdies is?
#2
Little Robin Red Breast
Sitting on a pole,
Wiggle, Wiggle, went his tail,
Phhuuut,went his hole!
Well, I did warn you! If there is anyone out there offended but this bit of 'smut', let me know post haste and I'll remove it if the demand is such that it is warranted. So come on all you poet laureates, bring forth those words for us all to hear! TIFN Everett
3/23/2005
R/C Aircraft
Is there anyone out there that is interested in flying radio controlled model aircraft besides me? When they get the new gym finished, if ever, I'm going to go put in my request to put on a demonstration of said aircraft. The ones used inside a building will be electric powered and fly at about 5-10 mph. I intend to demonstrate the really weird things you can do with a small wingspan(18-24") electric powered FOAM airplane! These new ones use lithium polymer batteries. That is the same ones that are in your cell phone and most of all the other small electronics. So somewhere in the not to distant future, when that building is done, come on up and watch a few crashes! Even after doing this for 40+ years I manage to get some pretty spectacular ones! If you are interested in learning how to fly one of these things, give me a call and I'll help get you on the road to electric aviation. It's a ball and even a little cheaper than cigs and booze, but not much! TIFN, Everett
3/20/2005
Navy Life- Installment 2
We were then marched into an adjoining room where everyone was measured for clothes and shoes etc. and had handed too us a full issue of clothes we would need for the next four years. Also received was a seabag in which to store all our new found wealth. Wearing only a pair of skivvies, (thats Navy talk for underwear son!) we were then directed to a door at the end of this room. When you went in you had a full head of hair, when you came out you had none and was as bald as a billiard ball! This didn't bother me to much as I was already pretty light in the hair department when I was seventeen. But some of those guys acted like they were having their hearts cut out. In 1956 there were a lot of guys who wore their hair, cut and styled just like, "THE KING"! That would be Elvis in case you who are reading this weren't born then.
Dragging all our worldly goods with us in the aforementioned seabag, we were led/marched out the door and along the road till we came to an empty barracks building which was to be our home for the next 16 weeks. Inside you were assigned too a double bunk with some other unfortunate soul, of whom you would be smelling much in the coming weeks. We never did get to eat that first morning because now we were involved in stenciling our name on every piece of the newly issud clothing. I mean even the socks. Myself and a couple of other guys of Polish descent had a hell of a time trying to get the first two initials and full last name on a sock! We spent the rest of the morning doing this and getting every thing stowed in a very small locker according to a rigid plan. No variations allowed. And I mean NO variation. If your sock wasn't rolled up so that your initials were facing the front when the door was opened for inspection, you were in deep Poo, and you would have to go all over the barracks looking for your stuff, because everything not in order was given the heave ho. I was usually in Poo right up to my neck, as that had been a given all the time I was growing up on the Island. A handkerchief that was a quarter inch out of line would earn you a few more poo points. Then it was outside where we put into positions within the group that we would adhere to till the end of bootcamp. Now we were told that we were to be called Company 252 and that we would all be called "Recruit" whatever your name was, and that you had better answer up on the first call! By now it was lunch time and we had our first disasterous attempt at marching as a group over to the mess hall for lunch.
The whole setup of the training grounds revolved around a huge piece of macadam about three football fields square. This was called a "Grinder" and we would find out very soon why it had that name. Around this, was arranged about twenty barracks buildings with a huge mess hall at one end. At the other end was another large building that housed all the classrooms where we would matriculate in the coming months. Now began a daily routine of reveille at 0600, go to breakfast by 0615, be back by 0700, and get the barracks cleaned up and squared away by 0800. "Cleaning up" entailed a complete sweeping and swabbing, (moppimg) the deck, cleaning and polishing of all the sinks, showers, and toilets in the HEAD. Thats a bathroom to all you landlubbers. After all this maid service was done, we began our daily indoctrination into becoming 4.0 sailors in Uncle Sams Navy! They taught us Naval history so that we would understand some of the traditions that had arisen over the last two hundred years plus. Fire fighting aboard ships, damage control, boat handling etc. a basic intro into the more common ratings that we would all work in, were presented. We had a go at trying out some of them. Mostly it involved what the Boatswains,(Bosun's) Mates would be doing as most of the recruits would go directly to a ship of the line out in the fleet after graduation.
At the end of the first week we were stood at attention outside the barracks and asked if anyone would like to try out for the Company Drill Team. First thought that came into my head was that this was some kind of nasty job that we hadn't yet heard about. I also remember someone telling me not to volunteer for anything! The Company Commander then proceeded to tell us that the Drill Team was a team of sailors who marched in a precision group, and would represent our Company in the graduation ceremony and some other functions around the Bainbridge area. When he told us that it would entail rising at 0500 and walking a mile or so to a special place where the team practiced every day till graduation, many of the would-be's backed out. Well I had been getting up earlier and walking about that distance on a lot of days when I was younger so it didn't seem so bad to me. Well, I volunteered to try out and that afternoon myself and nine other hopefuls went off to this place to begin our tryouts. When we got there we were all formed up according to height and then a drill instructor began marching us up and down this huge Gym floor. He began snapping out commands faster and faster. Every time someone would screw up, he would stop the group and the offender was told to go back to his barracks. We had started out with about 100 guys representing all the Companys sourrounding our grinder. By the time the Instructor was done with us, there were only 28 of us left.I was the only surviving member from my Company, and went on to throughly enjoy the rest of the time spent on the team and the demonstrations that we gave. I went on to join the Drill Teams at the next three duty stations also. Being in the team also exempted you from what was euphemistically called "Service Week"! It was a full week where all your Company spent its time doing the scut work fore the whole brigade. You worked in the mess hall doing all the necessary chores asscociated with cooking and cleaning up for 2000 men. You would be doing outside work like cleaning the streets, buildings, mowing the grass, cleaning the classrooms, painting inside and out etc. In short we were the maintenance crew for for the brigade for that week, and then it would fall to the next company in line to continue our fine work! After enduring service week and hopefully surviving it, we returned to the same daily routine that had preceded the temporary break. TO BE CONTINUED
Dragging all our worldly goods with us in the aforementioned seabag, we were led/marched out the door and along the road till we came to an empty barracks building which was to be our home for the next 16 weeks. Inside you were assigned too a double bunk with some other unfortunate soul, of whom you would be smelling much in the coming weeks. We never did get to eat that first morning because now we were involved in stenciling our name on every piece of the newly issud clothing. I mean even the socks. Myself and a couple of other guys of Polish descent had a hell of a time trying to get the first two initials and full last name on a sock! We spent the rest of the morning doing this and getting every thing stowed in a very small locker according to a rigid plan. No variations allowed. And I mean NO variation. If your sock wasn't rolled up so that your initials were facing the front when the door was opened for inspection, you were in deep Poo, and you would have to go all over the barracks looking for your stuff, because everything not in order was given the heave ho. I was usually in Poo right up to my neck, as that had been a given all the time I was growing up on the Island. A handkerchief that was a quarter inch out of line would earn you a few more poo points. Then it was outside where we put into positions within the group that we would adhere to till the end of bootcamp. Now we were told that we were to be called Company 252 and that we would all be called "Recruit" whatever your name was, and that you had better answer up on the first call! By now it was lunch time and we had our first disasterous attempt at marching as a group over to the mess hall for lunch.
The whole setup of the training grounds revolved around a huge piece of macadam about three football fields square. This was called a "Grinder" and we would find out very soon why it had that name. Around this, was arranged about twenty barracks buildings with a huge mess hall at one end. At the other end was another large building that housed all the classrooms where we would matriculate in the coming months. Now began a daily routine of reveille at 0600, go to breakfast by 0615, be back by 0700, and get the barracks cleaned up and squared away by 0800. "Cleaning up" entailed a complete sweeping and swabbing, (moppimg) the deck, cleaning and polishing of all the sinks, showers, and toilets in the HEAD. Thats a bathroom to all you landlubbers. After all this maid service was done, we began our daily indoctrination into becoming 4.0 sailors in Uncle Sams Navy! They taught us Naval history so that we would understand some of the traditions that had arisen over the last two hundred years plus. Fire fighting aboard ships, damage control, boat handling etc. a basic intro into the more common ratings that we would all work in, were presented. We had a go at trying out some of them. Mostly it involved what the Boatswains,(Bosun's) Mates would be doing as most of the recruits would go directly to a ship of the line out in the fleet after graduation.
At the end of the first week we were stood at attention outside the barracks and asked if anyone would like to try out for the Company Drill Team. First thought that came into my head was that this was some kind of nasty job that we hadn't yet heard about. I also remember someone telling me not to volunteer for anything! The Company Commander then proceeded to tell us that the Drill Team was a team of sailors who marched in a precision group, and would represent our Company in the graduation ceremony and some other functions around the Bainbridge area. When he told us that it would entail rising at 0500 and walking a mile or so to a special place where the team practiced every day till graduation, many of the would-be's backed out. Well I had been getting up earlier and walking about that distance on a lot of days when I was younger so it didn't seem so bad to me. Well, I volunteered to try out and that afternoon myself and nine other hopefuls went off to this place to begin our tryouts. When we got there we were all formed up according to height and then a drill instructor began marching us up and down this huge Gym floor. He began snapping out commands faster and faster. Every time someone would screw up, he would stop the group and the offender was told to go back to his barracks. We had started out with about 100 guys representing all the Companys sourrounding our grinder. By the time the Instructor was done with us, there were only 28 of us left.I was the only surviving member from my Company, and went on to throughly enjoy the rest of the time spent on the team and the demonstrations that we gave. I went on to join the Drill Teams at the next three duty stations also. Being in the team also exempted you from what was euphemistically called "Service Week"! It was a full week where all your Company spent its time doing the scut work fore the whole brigade. You worked in the mess hall doing all the necessary chores asscociated with cooking and cleaning up for 2000 men. You would be doing outside work like cleaning the streets, buildings, mowing the grass, cleaning the classrooms, painting inside and out etc. In short we were the maintenance crew for for the brigade for that week, and then it would fall to the next company in line to continue our fine work! After enduring service week and hopefully surviving it, we returned to the same daily routine that had preceded the temporary break. TO BE CONTINUED
3/16/2005
Council Meeting TONIGHT! 3/16/05
Well tonight at the Council work session meeting, 6PM at the Town Hall, anybody that has questions about either the money from/to the Library, or about those 'consultants' fees, should get right on down there and hear what is going to be said! Maybe then we will have a little more diversified commentary on what went on! I'll be waiting to hear. TTFN Everett
3/14/2005
"Moonspinners", et al
This mini history lesson is in response to "Sams" comment in the "Busted" Blog.
First off, we didn't "support" King George per se. We tried to maintain a neutral stance toward both of the belligerent entities. Those old fellers knew that they would get their heads handed too them by whichever party came ashore looking for 'refreshments' as it were. So they acted the part back then, that the Swiss did during WWII. Actually pretty astute of them on their part I think!
"Shipbreaking" and "Moonspinning", H-u-u-m, those are two words that I had never heard of in association with the many wrecks that littered our shore, until Mr. Livermores poem came out, and a movie was made about moonspinning in the early fifties. Then all the pundits jumped right on the wagon and stories of killer Islanders abounded. There was never a "documented" case of it ever happening that I've ever seen or heard about! It is all heresay BS! There was NO Southeast Light back then, and most wrecks were the result of poor navigation plus a combination of wind and tide working against the ship Captains. The nailing of ship nameplates salvaged off the beach was no different that the practice of hanging up oars and license plates in bars and resturants nowadays.
It drives me to distraction that people think that the old Islanders were so callous as to cause a ship to come ashore and kill all those people for a few pieces of wood or coal etc. When in fact on at LEAST one occassion, when the SS Larchmont was hit by another ship off of Sandy Point, it was those self same Islanders who went out in the dead of night in the middle of winter, to try and rescue the people aboard that ship. They were in fact, collectively, awarded I believe, 13 Carnagie Medals for bravery! The most ever to one community before or since. I don't believe they were the heartless bastards portrayed! Salvage was a way of life back then. You picked up and used what the sea delivered, and was damned glad to get it. There were no Home Depots to go to then!
As to what went on around here in the sixties and seventies, I have to defer to another chronicler as I was in the U S Navy and absent during that time.
As far as Prohibition was concerned, Block Island wasn't the instigator of the circumvention of the law. They just assisted in the facilitation of avoiding it's consequences! . It was a law passed by the righteous few and rightly ignored by the many! Realizing it was un-enforceable it was repealed in a few years. Guess that's it for this time. TTFN Everett
First off, we didn't "support" King George per se. We tried to maintain a neutral stance toward both of the belligerent entities. Those old fellers knew that they would get their heads handed too them by whichever party came ashore looking for 'refreshments' as it were. So they acted the part back then, that the Swiss did during WWII. Actually pretty astute of them on their part I think!
"Shipbreaking" and "Moonspinning", H-u-u-m, those are two words that I had never heard of in association with the many wrecks that littered our shore, until Mr. Livermores poem came out, and a movie was made about moonspinning in the early fifties. Then all the pundits jumped right on the wagon and stories of killer Islanders abounded. There was never a "documented" case of it ever happening that I've ever seen or heard about! It is all heresay BS! There was NO Southeast Light back then, and most wrecks were the result of poor navigation plus a combination of wind and tide working against the ship Captains. The nailing of ship nameplates salvaged off the beach was no different that the practice of hanging up oars and license plates in bars and resturants nowadays.
It drives me to distraction that people think that the old Islanders were so callous as to cause a ship to come ashore and kill all those people for a few pieces of wood or coal etc. When in fact on at LEAST one occassion, when the SS Larchmont was hit by another ship off of Sandy Point, it was those self same Islanders who went out in the dead of night in the middle of winter, to try and rescue the people aboard that ship. They were in fact, collectively, awarded I believe, 13 Carnagie Medals for bravery! The most ever to one community before or since. I don't believe they were the heartless bastards portrayed! Salvage was a way of life back then. You picked up and used what the sea delivered, and was damned glad to get it. There were no Home Depots to go to then!
As to what went on around here in the sixties and seventies, I have to defer to another chronicler as I was in the U S Navy and absent during that time.
As far as Prohibition was concerned, Block Island wasn't the instigator of the circumvention of the law. They just assisted in the facilitation of avoiding it's consequences! . It was a law passed by the righteous few and rightly ignored by the many! Realizing it was un-enforceable it was repealed in a few years. Guess that's it for this time. TTFN Everett
3/11/2005
Town Council Attendees-Lack of;
I am addressing this particular essay to the younger taxpayers of BI. Those in the age brackets from 50 back down to 20 or so. You really do need to participate or at least attend some of the Council meetings! YOUR future is being decided there, or at least the tax levies that will be assessed against you in the future. Some of you, as the people who will be financing and running this town in the next few years need to be aware of what is going on! Over the last two years, and more, there has been on average, one (1) person at most of these meetings! That is a dismal record. That one attendee has for the most part been the SAME person, time after time. She is getting a little "long in the tooth" and needs to have reinforcements to keep up the constant "surveillance" if you will, of what is going on in there. Witness the Town Consultants fiasco! Being the young homeowners and taxpayers of the future, it is in YOUR BEST INTERESTS, to become involved, and to not abrogate your responsibilities to yourself and your kids. Don't say to yourself, "let somebody else do it", because they WILL NOT have your best interests at heart! Jump in there! Make them BE accountable! TIFN Everett
BUSTED!
I read with much glee the headlines in todays paper! The one I am refering to of course was the one about the drug bust. I have been amazed that it took all these years to finally crack down on these people who have been pedaling these deadly substances with virtual impunity! Great job Chief Carlone and the rest of the Police Department, it has been too long coming! Keep up the good work and catch the REST of these no good, low life, "bastards" whoever they are, who are feeding this crap to our kids! If this was Ecquador, those two guys would be a pile of festering meat in front of a wall right now for just having had it in their possession! It is instant death down there and if it was that way here also, the drug problem would almost disappear of its own volition. Is that last, a bit over the top or what? TFIN Everett
3/09/2005
New Blog on the Block
Hey all you Bloggers out there, there is another point of view out there now and it is called, Block Island Blog. To get to it just type in, www.blockislandblog.blogspot.com in the search space. It will come up and say no info available, but drop down one line and go all the way right and click on the purple! Bingo! Give her/him some support. TFIN Everett
3/07/2005
Navy Life- Installment 1-Boot Camp
I think that I will try to do this particular story in four sections. It is probably to long for most people to stay interested for the duration. In between I'll revert to my usual rants! This episode is not as interesting as future ones, but try to suffer through to get some background! There are no x-rated words in here yet!
Early on in my life, I had decided that I wanted to join the Navy in order to be able to work on, and fly in, all the great planes that they had in the 40's and 50's. So with that in mind, I made the first overture to a recruiting Officer in Springfield Mass. I took the required physical exam for all military inductees and was accepted for service. At that time in the history of the navy, you could make a request as to which "rating" you would like to strive for. I made my pitch to them that I wanted to be an Aviation Machinists Mate R. The "R" stood for 'reciprocating as that was the type of engine that I wanted to work on.I was assured that after the successful completion of boot camp I would be assigned to a school to learn all about those babies.
Eventually graduation day arrived, and that evening I was presented with a diploma signifying that the end of 12 years of terrible mental exertion had arrived! After all the graduates had been given their kudos and awards, I was a non-recipient of either, it came time for a Naval Aviation Pilot to do the deed, and swear myself and two other equally naive children into the service of their country. This took place as we were still wearing our cap and gown outfits and clutching that hard won sheepskin in our other hand. This all occurred on a Friday night and we were then advised that we would be leaving the Island the following Monday to journey to a place called Bainbridge MD. That was to be the place where we would receive our indoctrination into the life as a US Navy sailor.
Well the day of departure finally arrived. I had been looking forward to this with the greatest of enthusiasm. It meant that I would miss the summer of 1956 on the Island but that was no big deal then. So on June the 15th the three of us went down to the New Harbor to get on the boat to leave the Island. Damn, this was an event in which I had never participated in before, as the boat we were leaving on was the one that went to New London CT. Man! Already I was in uncharted waters and I hadn't even left the damn dock yet! As the boat pulled away from the dock, and I looked at my Mom and Dad standing there, I had the first slight twinges that maybe I was being just a little bit hasty in my departure from everything I had ever known and everybody I loved!
We got to New London in good order and went to the train station which was only a few yards away. The train got us underway for the next part of our adventure. It was an adventure to, because here was another form of conveyance That I had never been on before! The next few hours got us down to Grand Central Station in New York City where we were deposited along with a few thousand other people. The only difference between them and us was that they knew where they were going and how to get there. Not so for we hicks from the sticks. Someone had told us on the way down to walk over to Penn Station to catch the train for Maryland, but we didn't have a clue as to the location of this place the end we wound up taking a taxi and not so sure that we didn't get a shortened tour of the city before our arrival at our location. After sorting out all the tracks and finding the right one, we boarded that train for the last leg of this odyssey.
We arrived in a small town in MD called Perryville at about 1:30 am and climbed off with about 40 to 50 other guys who looked just as bewildered as me. Just then a big old gray bus with the words US Navy painted on the side arrived. Hooray, Salvation! We weren't going to have to sleep on the railway platform after all. These guys were going to give us a nice soft bed. HAH! They loaded us aboard and after about a 20 minute ride we came to a stop in front of a huge building. Off the bus and into the building we went like a herd of cattle. Inside this cavernous edifice, was just a huge floor painted with three foot squares covering the whole thing. Now comes out a door this person who was about six foot forty and commences to scream at us. Not even my mother could scream this loud! He told us to occupy one of the squares, stand at attention, (whatever that was) and don't talk. Then he hollers at us, "Divest yourselves of all the civilian accoutrements you have on your US Navy issue body!" We all stood there and just looked at each other trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about. Well he made it abundantly clear to strip off every stitch of clothes that we had on including shoes socks and underwear! Right at that moment, I knew for sure that I had made a HUGE mistake in joining the USN! This incident occurred about 0230 in the morning and we were left standing at attention in our birthday suits till 0600! So much for the nice soft bed! TO BE CONTINUED. Everett
Early on in my life, I had decided that I wanted to join the Navy in order to be able to work on, and fly in, all the great planes that they had in the 40's and 50's. So with that in mind, I made the first overture to a recruiting Officer in Springfield Mass. I took the required physical exam for all military inductees and was accepted for service. At that time in the history of the navy, you could make a request as to which "rating" you would like to strive for. I made my pitch to them that I wanted to be an Aviation Machinists Mate R. The "R" stood for 'reciprocating as that was the type of engine that I wanted to work on.I was assured that after the successful completion of boot camp I would be assigned to a school to learn all about those babies.
Eventually graduation day arrived, and that evening I was presented with a diploma signifying that the end of 12 years of terrible mental exertion had arrived! After all the graduates had been given their kudos and awards, I was a non-recipient of either, it came time for a Naval Aviation Pilot to do the deed, and swear myself and two other equally naive children into the service of their country. This took place as we were still wearing our cap and gown outfits and clutching that hard won sheepskin in our other hand. This all occurred on a Friday night and we were then advised that we would be leaving the Island the following Monday to journey to a place called Bainbridge MD. That was to be the place where we would receive our indoctrination into the life as a US Navy sailor.
Well the day of departure finally arrived. I had been looking forward to this with the greatest of enthusiasm. It meant that I would miss the summer of 1956 on the Island but that was no big deal then. So on June the 15th the three of us went down to the New Harbor to get on the boat to leave the Island. Damn, this was an event in which I had never participated in before, as the boat we were leaving on was the one that went to New London CT. Man! Already I was in uncharted waters and I hadn't even left the damn dock yet! As the boat pulled away from the dock, and I looked at my Mom and Dad standing there, I had the first slight twinges that maybe I was being just a little bit hasty in my departure from everything I had ever known and everybody I loved!
We got to New London in good order and went to the train station which was only a few yards away. The train got us underway for the next part of our adventure. It was an adventure to, because here was another form of conveyance That I had never been on before! The next few hours got us down to Grand Central Station in New York City where we were deposited along with a few thousand other people. The only difference between them and us was that they knew where they were going and how to get there. Not so for we hicks from the sticks. Someone had told us on the way down to walk over to Penn Station to catch the train for Maryland, but we didn't have a clue as to the location of this place the end we wound up taking a taxi and not so sure that we didn't get a shortened tour of the city before our arrival at our location. After sorting out all the tracks and finding the right one, we boarded that train for the last leg of this odyssey.
We arrived in a small town in MD called Perryville at about 1:30 am and climbed off with about 40 to 50 other guys who looked just as bewildered as me. Just then a big old gray bus with the words US Navy painted on the side arrived. Hooray, Salvation! We weren't going to have to sleep on the railway platform after all. These guys were going to give us a nice soft bed. HAH! They loaded us aboard and after about a 20 minute ride we came to a stop in front of a huge building. Off the bus and into the building we went like a herd of cattle. Inside this cavernous edifice, was just a huge floor painted with three foot squares covering the whole thing. Now comes out a door this person who was about six foot forty and commences to scream at us. Not even my mother could scream this loud! He told us to occupy one of the squares, stand at attention, (whatever that was) and don't talk. Then he hollers at us, "Divest yourselves of all the civilian accoutrements you have on your US Navy issue body!" We all stood there and just looked at each other trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about. Well he made it abundantly clear to strip off every stitch of clothes that we had on including shoes socks and underwear! Right at that moment, I knew for sure that I had made a HUGE mistake in joining the USN! This incident occurred about 0230 in the morning and we were left standing at attention in our birthday suits till 0600! So much for the nice soft bed! TO BE CONTINUED. Everett
3/06/2005
Quote from the past
There is a quote at the top of the page at his blog that we should require of all our public officials, elected as well as hired or appointed. Click on this link http://www.bunkermulligan.net to read it. Everett
"Those" Town Consultants!
Has anyone out there ever heard of an outfit called Information Systems Technologies, Inc.? They are the people hired by the town to assess and recommend upgrades to the Finance Departments computer networking system if needed. The operative words there being, "if needed"! There are pages of techincal gibberish and jargon used in the preparation of the bill to justify the size of it! Things like, delivery and discussion, preparation and planning, assistance and application, participation and planning again. There is a lot of "planning" going on in the propasal. A total of 51 hours was needed to do all this stuff which was probably already on a hard drive in their computer somewhere. They used to work for Middletown in the same capacity but have since been let go. I wonder why that is? This all came to the tune of approx. $6400! Now the total cost of the software used came to the grand sum of $225.88, plus the freight of$15.95 Must have big one big assed and heavy CD! Since that time there has been bill after bill presented to the town for all the supposed "stuff" listed above that comes to a total of $174,160.75! Does anybody but me feel the shaft, oh so gently and surreptitiously being slid home? Who the hell is overseeing this farce? Is anybody watching the store here? How about if we demand an item by item, and a credible explanation, of each of those items listed above? There is obviously some clandestine things happening here, and the bright light of exposure needs to be shined directly, right on the perpetrators of the whole sordid mess! How about if a nice lucid and honest evaluation were to appear in either this forum or at least, the BI Times?
The credibility of the Town Hall and its inhabitants is going to be coming under close scrutinity in the coming weeks about this disaster. So strike first ye denizens of said abode, and enlighten we people who donate our money to your care!!
The credibility of the Town Hall and its inhabitants is going to be coming under close scrutinity in the coming weeks about this disaster. So strike first ye denizens of said abode, and enlighten we people who donate our money to your care!!
3/04/2005
Alternate fillers for this space
In the near future, as soon as I can get all my "stuff" in one bag, I am considering putting up occassional snippets of different stories about my time in the US Navy. I have written them over the years since I retired from active duty. Some of them are to long for one sitting, so I guess you could say they will be in "serial" form. Hope it doesn't bore you all into oblivion. We will still be talking about all the good stuff that happens around here to! TIFN Everett
Practicing
Pitting cherries in the back yard I am practicing how to put pictures in these things. Pay no attention to duplications or anything wierd that may show up here
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