Intimidating Machines!

Hey Newbie, I am in total agreement about those checkout machines. Hell I'm terrified of those things. Every time I go to the mainland and into Shaws and then the checkout line, I keep saying to myself that I'm not going to let that damned machine get the best of me this time! As the line in front of me diminishes and I get closer and closer to the thing, the faster my steadfast resolve drains right down into my shoes and I meekly hand my credit card to the checkout girl as I mumble under my breath that I can't read, write, or count out money!

It's not so much the machine as the number of people waiting behind me to use the self checkout that really gets to me. I spend most of the time in front of the thing wondering about what the people behind are saying about that stupid ass up there who can't figure out how to put the money in the damned slot! Then when you do get it in there, it spits it out because you did it wrong, or the damn bill is counterfeit and the alarm goes off and people and cops come running from everywhere to catch a thief! Jeez, How embarrassing is that?! I used to hang back a little and watch how others do it and then when a lull in users appeared, I'd slide up to it and put my stuff on the counter and then out of nowhere, 15 of those aforementioned shoppers would appear! Now I won't even go near the thing. I think there is some kid in an office watching through a window and when he sees a likely victim, he starts making the machine act like it was possessed! I hate them! Please bring back the pretty girls! TIFN Everett

The New Town Hall

There have been a few comments about just what is the status of the new town hall, and I'd like to add my own. Where is the council in regard to the final plans? Have they been completed yet? And are there any plans regarding use of alternate energy initiatives? There are a lot of good ideas out there. As some one in an earlier comment said, there are a LOT of federal grants out there for people/communities willing to explore and use these technologies. Some of them are not very high tech either. One very simple and cheap idea is to run radiant heat plastic tube through the FOUNDATION of the building and connect them to one or two solar water heating panels. A small circulator pump in the system circulates the liquid and acts as a preheater of the walls instead of trying to drive the cold back out through the walls. Continue the radiant heat through out the floor either by itself or in conjunction with the wall system. Solar panels on the roof opposite e the road can significantly lower the electricity needs of the building. Check out the system at the School or the Post Office. They really do work. How about the council setting up a small and dedicated committee to get some good information on the operation, costs, and feasibility of these alternatives? This should also include the new 20 kwh fuel cells. Find out how long they are good for, what kind of maintenance is required, what is the cost to run one for a certain period of time, How much do they cost, and finally how much of the cost can be offset by applying for a grant? Anybody know any good grant writers? Hey! How about a nice ten kwh beautiful windmill sitting in the back yard? Let everybody in the world know that you really do care about conservation of energy resources by your deeds and actions!


So would any member of the Town Council or the Town Manager care to comment on this? We could make our new Town Hall building a fine model for the nation to see, and to emulate in their own communities. Comments? TIFN Everett

Land Trust Questions

I am wondering if some one of the members of the Land Trust would be interested in responding to the questions posed by a few people in regard to the $16M in cash reserves supposedly in an account somewhere. Is that a fact or is all the money somehow committed to purchases? I'm the wrong one to ask about the whole operation, but there are knowledgeable people out there. I hope they will respond.

The Library. Apparently there are a lot of questions about its operation to. I'm not a very frequent user of the facility but it seems as though at least a few people are very upset with the time open/staffing schedules. Are there any members of the Library board out there who read this blog and would be interested a posting some answers to the asked questions? If so just go to the bottom of this page and click on "post a comment".

How about the taking over of the town beach? Any member of the Council care to give us all the rational behind the idea and what they hope to accomplish by doing so. What are the goals of this deal? Enlighten please.

Does any member of the Council care to tell us just what is going on with those computer consultants who are ripping us off for big bucks without much to show for it. It sure as hell is taking an inordinate amount of time to do the simple job they were hired to do. Whats up guys? More enlightenment please!! TIFN Everett

Just Ranting this time

The letter below is a copy of one that I sent to the publisher, photographer, editor, any name that I could find in the book. As I came across all the innuendos and sly comments throughout the book, I got progressively madder to the point that had one of those people been standing in front of me I probably would have throttled him! I had written in an earlier blog post that I am NOT a lover of most things of french origin. A year or so ago I had received a book of photographs of various places around the planet. It is called, "Earth from above:365 days". It was photographed,written and published by all french people.Here I'll put in the letter and continue at the end of this bit of vitriolic and vituperative discourse on my part!

The Letter;

Greetings, I have just recently come into possession of your book, Earth from above"365 days. I have looked at every picture in it and with growing dismay, read every caption attached to each of the photographs. For the most part, the captions are enlightening, informative and also disquieting in that you do bring to the readers attention the very visible rape of the planet and its long history of ecological abuse at the hands of its inhabitants. I must say at the outset, that I agree almost totally with all of the information presented.

Throughout the book, whenever there was a photograph of a location within the United States, you managed to convey a feeling to the reader that there was something amiss with how that particular site was managed or had come into existence. Each ensuing photo caption increased the feeling that you were portraying us as though we had no idea how to manage or protect our assets and that we were an unfeeling, uneducated group of "clods". I continued on though because the photos were spectacular. Then I came to the photo and the caption for the 19th of October, and my sense of outrage knew no bounds!

I must ask you here, of what generation you are?Were you alive during World War I? How about WWII,? Korea?, The french Vietnam era?, The US Vietnam era? Or are you a "recent" entrant onto the world stage? What do you use as your frame of reference for the outrageous claim that the bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki was a "Barbaric Act"? Personal experience? or have you been reading from some form of "revisionist history" written by someone who wasn't even born at the time of the event?

Apparently you are only one more of and un-informed and ungrateful member of french society. You all seem to have collectively erased from your memory just who it was that came to your aid on two separate occasions to save your country from the Germanic hordes in the 1st half of the last century. Take a ride down to the cemeteries at Flanders and Normandy, and you just might get an inkling of what sacrifices were made by the young American soldiers that came too you in your time of need. Was your family one of the Vichy government? Or did they run off too England, or North Africa to escape the wrath of Hitler and his minions? Most of the "intelligentsia"fled the country under different pretexts and left the lower class and the peasants to do the fighting for them. Then when the war was virtually won, back they came with the haughty and pompous monsieur DeGaulle at their head to lead you in your hour of Freedom! He, having you all believing he did it all by himself! Paid for with the lives of thousands of American lives and not so many french one eh? By the way, just which countries was it that opened their pocketbooks and handed over billions of dollars to England, france, Germany, Italy, Japan and countless others to rebuild your infrastructure and your economies after the fighting was over? I think it was called, The Marshall Plan. Was it your government? I don't think so! And how much of it ever got paid back to us? Check and you will find that is was virtually an insignificant amount compared to what was doled out!

Now I ask you, how many "gallant" frenchmen were involved in the retaking of the Islands of the Pacific in the drive to liberate the Pacific from the grasp of those poor, downtrodden, Japanese? How many people were going to be killed in the horrific fighting that was going to ensue when the invasion of the Japanese homeland began? If you recall, it was the Japanese who initiated this whole response by us with the "barbaric" attack on the unsuspecting people of Hawaii, who you can by no stretch of your warped view, be called "warmongers"! This attack followed after ten to twelve years of Japanese imperialism in which time they managed to brutally kill over 13 million, Chinese, Burmese, Korean,Filipinos and countless other people of the South East Asian realm! Now that was truly an act of unparalleled barbarism, committed by a pack of slavering animals! What makes you think that they would be any less vicious in the defense of their own home Islands? We were not willing to just give a gallic shrug of our shoulders, say " Cest La Vie" and go on and let a million or more of OUR people die needlessly in the invasion of Japan. That was why the two bombs were dropped on the two cities. I might add that the Japanese were given ample time and opportunity to surrender, but chose not to,but rather chose to stick with their mis-begotten code of "Bushido" and with that decision they condemned those hundreds of thousands to die! Don't blame us for their action. That you would equate the American people as a whole, with a group of thugs like that is the act of a totally reprehensible,and or, at the least, a criminally misinformed individual!

You have taken it on yourself to condemn a whole society and their moral values for some personal reason. It is apparent in your writing that you hate the American people as a whole. Could it be because the English language has supplanted what your culture perceived to be the language of the diplomatic and business entities world wide? Times change and we should be willing and able to change with them or be left behind. You condemn us for our actions as a "people", but we are a conglomeration of practically every race on the face of this earth! There is NO OTHER country like this one on this planet. I'll be the first to admit that we are not perfect, but we are about as good as it gets for now. Perhaps you could direct some of your vitriolic diatribes toward someone who really deserves it the next time you venture into the literary/photographic arena.

I am a 65 year old man who lives on a very small island off the East coast of the United States. I spent 20 years of my life in the US Navy, defending my countries freedoms as well as others, like yours! I have one Uncle who survived 37 missions in a B-17 over france and Germany, in order that we, as well as you, should not have to suffer under the domination of dictators, the likes of which infested the world at that time. I honor him and all the others who GAVE UP THEIR LIVES for that ideal and so should you. Engage in a little more forethought the next time you decide to vilify someone incorrectly. End of letter.

So now I have to say that I don't dislike ALL French speaking people and descendants of same. I even have a son-in-law who is one! My fondest wish for this country is that we could stop referring to ourselves as , French , Italian, Irish, Black Americans etc., and just be plain old Americans!
I see on the boob tube that as President Bush makes his way around Europe "mending" fences as the MSM boys assert, that he stopped in to see Jacque Charich (sp) and the German president. What the hell for? WE don't need them for a whole hell of a lot. I think the shoe is on the other foot and I for the life of me can't figure out why they aren't licking our boots. If they couldn't send most of their exports to us, they would be belly up in a short time. Then it was on to Belgium where the Socialist party is in control. In all the government, and public "loo's" there is a picture of the US flag and of President Bush placed INSIDE each of the urinals with an invitation for all to come and p*** on Georges head and that hated American flag! While out on the stage where the speeches are going on, this bunch of Social rectum orifice's are sucking up to Mr. Bush for all the "aid" they can get out of him! I think it is time for the US Government to sit down and do a hard evaluation of just exactly which countries it is who are our ACTUAL friends and those who have two faces! Stop giving any money to them and let them make it on their own if we are so hated by them. Well, I feel much better now! But after a few days I'll be all cranked up again after reading about some other double dealing that has gone on! TIFN Everett

Island Resident, Definition of;

This is in response to "Newbie". It is real easy for me to define who is and is not an Island Resident. It would be somebody like, Dick and Karen Martin, Merrill Slate and Virginia, Martha Smith, Myself and three out of four of my kids. I could go through the phone book and pick out most of the ones who are here 'Year round". Going on vacation for four to six weeks doesn't erase your Islander year round status. But if you are gone for more than that time on a regular basis you are NOT a year round resident. How do you prove that, if you need proof to get a resident pass or ticket? That is the sticking point. One way might be for the boat to issue a card that can be punched or time and date stamped each time you by a ticket, one way or round trip, and then you save them and take it to wherever you have to go to get your resident card, license etc. But we all know that Interstate wouldn't approve of that situation for whatever reason. If you want that card bad enough, I would think you would put up with that inconvenience. An Island address or State drivers license doesn't do it! Witness all the summer time visitors who own houses on BI with commuter boat passes. The thing that gets me about those folks is, if you own a 2-3 million dollar home on BI, just what in hell do you need a pass that gets you a two or three dollar price reduction on the damn boat for?! And if you look up the definition of "commuter" in your Funk and Wagnall's you'll see that none of them and myself included, do not qualify for that card! We do not commute on a daily basis. Call them a Resident's card and I'll go get one. TIFN Everett

Talk to Me!

If anyone out there has a particular item or topic that they would like discussed, let me know by email what it is, and a short discourse and I'll post it for comments. Help, I'm running out of things to bitch about! I'll not identify in the blog anyone who sends something in unless requested to do so. The email adress is: elittle@verizon.net I'll be waiting! TIFN Everett

How Deep are your Kids Pockets

In the March/April issue of AARP magazine, Karen Westerberg Reyes writes that Social Security "is not broke"! She asserts that it is in the best shape since its inception in 1935. She also says that any surplus Social Security revenue is invested in U S Treasury bonds, this to the tune of 1.6 trillion dollars, and that by 2028 social Security is going to have to redeem those bonds and delve into the 1.6 T principal. She then goes on to admit that those Social Security revenues are only, "on paper", but that the paper is U S Treasury bonds! So what? I have a couple of nagging questions about the whole affair. Is there Any Cash in the trust fund till? Or is it full of IOU's from other government entities that have "borrowed" a few million here and there in order to fund their own favorite "porky" social programs like the gigantic agri-business farm aid? Next question, where is the money, the actual cash, going to come from to redeem those IOU's? And just exactly who is it that pays the 6-13 percent interest on those Treasury bonds held by Soc. Sec.? Do not most of these borrowing entities get funded by the Income Tax revenues? So what does that do to the balance sheet? How does the government make up that huge shortfall in cash? So in the end, to keep this "cash fat" and "unbroken" system in the black and paying benefits, guess who is going to be digging deeper and deeper into their pockets to fix the disaster perpetrated on them by the now in office "officials"? That's right , your kids and grandchildren!

I have one last question, are there any politicians of any stripe in Washington, that actually give a damn about people that sent them there, and who are there solely for the purpose of enacting laws that benefit ALL Americans equally? I think not! Every day you read or hear of another one out to feather his own nest, or get re-elected in order to continue to feed at the government trough! In closing, I have to say that I am sorry that I voted for Lincoln Chaffee. He has turned out to be no more than a liberal "donkey" in a conservative suit ! Check out his voting record and floor speeches. TIFN Everett

Island Roads Redux

Back at the roads again.... This time in regard to High Street. A question that I have is, will the "drainage system" partially installed, continue all the way to the top of the street? If not, how is proposed that the water running down the hill, underground, be directed to that one 6-8" pipe sticking up in the middle of the hill? There is a partial solution to some of the water that feeds the 'High Street River'. Over on the back side west end of the Continental pond there is an outlet that lets the overflow run down the hill and into the Mill Tail. I believe that there was a "beehive" built into the ground that controlled erosion. I looked at it the other day and it is completely choked with debris. If the town would talk to the land owners back there and ask to let the junk be cleared out, a huge amount of the water than now runs down High St. would go out the back way, bothering no one nor damaging anyone's property. That is the way it was for all the years I was a young'un around here. Hey Mike, if someone reads this maybe they will let you know! I'm to decrepit to run you down. TIFN Everett

Joyous Reunion

Well after what was supposed to be a six week vacation, turned into a five month one, my newly minted/reconditioned windmill has been reunited with its long legged support system! After a round trip by truck to Norman OK, its original birthplace, and many anxious e-mails, it finally arrived "home " on BI. After languishing in the dark of our new building it has finally seen the light and found its"wings" again. Since it went up Wednesday, it has produced a little over 175 KWH's of Mr. Franklin's little discovery. Thats about a third of my monthly bill in just five days!

So this leads me to answer 11:42 Anony from the Bipco post last week, plus a little rambling on. Yes alternative energy is expensive, although the solar part is becoming less so if you don't go with the battery storage system. They are the killer. These types of alt. energy production don't always need separate accessory buildings. I have none, nor does my son with his solar array. Being tied into the grid puts all the excess electricity that I don't use back out there for someone else to use. This is juice that the power company DID NOT generate and therefore no oil was burned. They had no over head, maintainence, or wages to pay on those kwh's. I got reimbursed about 8 to 9 cents per kwh and they turned around and sold it to my neighbors for well over 25 cents per! Pretty good return huh? This is the ONLY power company in this state, and I think in the US that does NOT have what is called "net metering". That is in effect that the meter runs forward or backward depending on whether I am "taking" or "giving" electricity. When this net metering is in effect, I could run the meter backwards all winter when the wind blows like hell and "bank" it, then take it back when the wind doesn't blow. Somehow or other, when this all came before the PUC, Mr McGinnes convinced them that I was going to put him out of business it they let net metering come into being. Well, what with the way all the people with the deep pockets were able to get the zoning laws revised to their satisfaction, there will be no more windmills put up this Island, until a more enlightened group takes a grip on the reins that steer the policy making decisions around here.

So after years of reading trade journals, etc. it is becoming more and more evident to a lot of people a lot smarter than me, that the oil reserves, thought by some to be good for another thousand years, have sharply revised this estimate downward to about 30 to 40 years. The increased demand put on the oil producers of the world, by the burgeoning economies of China and India, is now thought to be going to drive the price of oil up to $70 a barrel by the end of NEXT YEAR! And up too $150 -$175 a barrel by 2015-2018! There MAY be oil out there, but who the hell is going to be able to afford to buy it! Think what happens when the oil runs out if there is no viable alternative? Think of all the things that are made of plastic! That ubiquitious substance that dominates our daily life. It is in everything.I sit here writing this and look around me and 90 percent of every object I touch or see has the oil based derivative in it. I kind of expect to be out of the picture by then, but I have great feelings of unease and discomfort thinking of what is in store for my children and grandchildren. They will have to live with the consequences of what their parents and grendparents did or did NOT do in the area of alternative energy research and development.

So until the scientists and physicists get the fuel cell problems solved, and the cold fusion form of energy into a usable form, I guess other than the basic forms of wind, solar, geothermal, wave energy, hydro- electric, etc. we will have to turn to that dreaded form of energy production, nuclear energy, pronounced by many commentators who should know better, "nuculear" ! When and if all else fails, I guess we'll just have to give a call to Scotty and see if he has any spare dilithium crystals on board that he can spare! Beam me up Scotty, there IS no intelligent life down here! TIFN Everett

Kennedy Memorabilia

I noticed on MSNBC today that there is to be an auction of a lot of Jack and Jackies "stuff". Just exactly why in hell would anyone want any of that "stuff" in their house except for the notoriety, mostly bad, of the male member of the duo? It might serve as a talking piece, but that is about it.

It has always been a sore point with me that some of the MSM seems to have crowned that sordid family with the term America's Royalty. What a crock! I thought we all ran away from those European countries mainly because of their Royalty, and what they thought they could do to we serfs! At least thats why my family left merry auld England.

So old Joe Kennedy, or his ancestors come here for what ever reason, and eventually go into the business of rum running during prohibition and gets fanstically loaded, with money that is! He procreates and has a bunch of kids. In the mean time gets himself an Ambassadors job in a country that is unknown to me. Thats only 'cause I'm to lazy to spend the time to find out. Joe Jr. manages to get killed early on in life. Then Jack becomes President, philanderer and adulterer that he was. Bobby gets to be Attorney General. Then two assassinations occur! Teddy, who is on the very bottom of the family barrel, as far as brains go, gets him self elected Senator after he manages to kill an illicit girlfriend by drowning, while standing by,dithering and watching! This is the dumbest man in the US Senate, witness some of the recent statements by him. And did you know that 'Teddy" has been banned from more than one Island place of business? He removed a pair of panties from a female at the High View and was wearing them on his head! This from a member of the worlds "most exclusive club"!A nephew, Micheal Skeakel (sp) rapes and kills a girl. Another nephew William Kennedy Smith rapes a girl. Another child, Patrick uses someones sailboat and proceeds to completely trash it, Jack Jr. manages to get himself killed in a plane crash. Poor Rose and Jackie, all they did was have the unfortunate luck to marry into a clan of mis-begotten bootleggers,adulterers and rapists. After all this litany of woe and despair, Just exactly why would they have been called America's royalty? And who really wants to be reminded of the shortcomings by having to look at one of their possessions day after day? NOT ME. I am a devout Kennedy Dis-Like-O-Phile! Anybody else out there disaffected by this troop of misfits? TIFN Everett

More "Wind" on Old BI

The weekly fodder sheet arrived this AM and I go where I do every time I open it up, to the letters to the Editor section. There I was greeted by two letters from a couple of "locals"with a little more insight as to the West Side Housing affair. Their thoughts regarding Mr. Aspbury were right up there with mine! His assertion that it had been on the market is surely true, but it's location puts it where the conservator has no interest in acquiring it. It is, after all, in a hole and not a top priority piece of property that the Deep pocketed "retirees " would want to spend a couple million dollars on so that they could have a view of the cemetery and Ball Housing. Not to say that the view of/from the cemetery is bad, 'cause I'll be there looking around soon enough!

Perusing down the page a little further I came across Mr. Woods rather petulant and verbose response to bringing into question Mr. R. Smiths bona fides as regards being a council member. I was absolutely shouting out with joy that HE was annoyed! All the years he owned the paper, it was a seldom occasion that when someone wrote a letter to the Ed. that he didn't add or take away letters, words, or punctuation! Wonderful to see the shoe has shifted location, and I hope it fits very tightly! He is also quite taken with his writing abilities. Witness his remarks in regard to his,"pithy, witty, and acerbic" account of an unpublished letter. Leave off the last two letters of the first word, and you find where the letter found its final resting place, in one. The "acerbic" part was probably closer to nastiness, where I will now take myself. Peter, you neglected to tell which of the "wits" you were talking about. Was it, Dim, Nit, or Half? TIFN Everett

The Disappearing Councilman

Hi All, What's going on with Mr.Robert Ellis Smith our duly elected councilman? He comes to the Island a day or so before a council meeting, stirs up a bunch no account bull---- and then disappears again like a will-o-the-wisp! Where does he go? Florida? Hawaii? maybe Alaska. Where ever the hell it is, it sure isn't here ! I'm really upset that he spends so little time here yet has the timerity to claim that he is represents us ! I don't think that the people who voted for him did so with the understanding that he would be a "very seldom present" councilman. I noticed that he left this morning again on the 0830 boat. This is Saturday 01/29/05. If you see him coming or going, log on here and record the time and date. After a month or two maybe we should start a recall petition to get him recalled and a real time councilor put in his place! TIFN Everett

Woodwinds, and forms of "Wind"

One wonders why Mr. Wood would launch his tirade against Mrs. Balser with such "messianic" and vitriolic zeal by using an oxymoron! "Facts", and by inference, "invented facts" just doesn't compute. So having started off under a misapprehension,it is no wonder he continues in the same vein. Could he have used a less derrogatory word than "aping" in his description of the methods used to obtain grants? Certainly he could have, but that would have lessened the impact of his salacious statement!

Mrs. Balser has nothing to be "apologetic" about. After all she is trying to obtain for twenty, that is 20 familes, some decent housing that they can call their own, and that they can bring up their kids in, have Christmas mornings in, Thanksgiving dinners, birthday parties and sleep overs in. Just exactly what is your contribution to these people going to be Mr. Wood? You "loudly" and "pompously" claim to be the "champion" of "something" or "everything", but just what I can't figure out. You took a LOT of "literary license" in vilifing her and claiming that her view of the Conservation Triumvirate is that they are "greedy"! Those are YOUR words Mr. Wood, she never said that, YOU DID!

So in conclusion Mr.Wood, the other form of "wind" I see emanating from your Woodwind World is the result of certain biological and chemical processes that eventually emerge as FLATULENCE, which is ALL that your tirade amounts to!

Everett R Littlefield
Old Town Road

Town Lawyers

I only have a short one this time. Can someone explain to me why we hire law firm on an annual basis, only to go out and hire additional lawyers every time the town gets involved in some sort of law suit? Is this because the Town Council has little or no confidence in the abilities of the retained firm? Or is it because that firm has no expertise in the areas we continually find ourselves involved in? It has been this way since I was sitting on the council years ago. Can't we get a little more selective in who we choose to represent our intrests in the State courts? Time to get a new broom new council members, and give the Town Hall a real good sweeping! TTFN Everett

Say "Good things, not Bad"

I started this blog so that all people on, or interested in BI could have a place to come forth and say what they wanted about "things" on BI. So far most of the comments have been of the accusatory, and denigratory vein. With this one I'm going to change directions 180 degrees. When we were kids, my Dad, Lester (Shorty) Littlefield used to tell us all the time, " if you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all" ! As anyone who knew him will tell you, he lived by that dictum. Well I can't say that I've emulated him in that respect. I have been known to rail against certain persons and use uncomplimentary terms when talking about them. With this blog , I hope to acquaint you with the real person behind the name that most of you will recognize. I am now and have always been an unabashed admirer of this person. She has been an outstanding and unreservedly great friend to all of my family virtually from the day she arrived on the Island. Her Name is Mary Jane Logan, nee Balser. Now before you go ballistic and click off, if you are not an MJ fan, push yourself to at least try to read on for a minute.You may be surprised. MJ has a warm and caring demeanor when dealing with people, especially young people. She also has a forceful and direct personality when it is called for. By her own admission, the fact that she comes from Italian stock gives her license to talk fast and loud and wave her arms around when conversing! She is not one to toot her horn and is going to be mortified when she hears of this. But I am sick and tired of listening to people who know nothing of her, other than what they see at public meetings. Demeaning, chastising, berating, and in every way possible, trying to besmirch and destroy her reputation and credibility, is the goal of a few people. By the way , at the end of this there will be a question, yes this is a test! Some previous council members were apparently terrified of her intelligence and integrity and did all they could to engineer and facilitate her departure from the office of the Finance Director. Look at what their inept decision has wrought! When MJ first came to the Island the new gym was in the works. On its completion, she and her husband Don Logan set up and ran the adult basketball league for many years, something she had done previously at various YMCA's. She rounded up money to pay for various and sundry things while Don kept the score books and ran the scoreboard. No pay by the way. The preschool in the bottom of the Harbor Church was a dismal and foreboding place to have a bunch of small kids. It lacked a lot of amenities including chairs etc. Out of their own pocket to the tune of $5K, they bought and erected a play center located there and which I assume then went to the new place. Year after year for a long time, she donated most of the food etc. for the preschool fundraiser spaghetti dinners. More than a couple of bucks! She has helped many of the young familes navigate the intricacies of the paperwork necessary to become a home owner on BI. She and Don even co signed loans for at least two separate families in order for them to own a home! She provides excellent housing for her employees and treats them as human beings which is more than we can say for some business owners here on BI. She also provides housing for young people who are not on her employee list. She wrote all the grants, filled out all the necessary town , state and federal forms , plus those from the lending institutions, went to all the required board meetings and sheparded the Ambrose Lane project from beginning to end including being the Project Manager for the job. Which I have to add was completed in a timely manner. I hope that the wording in the grants didn't offend Mr. Robert E. Smiths sensibilities to much! Over the 18 years she hs been here, she has written grants for work on the Sewer Co., Water Co.,( tanks, pipes, machinery etc.) Housing, and others to numerous and varied to count. The totals for these grants run upwards of 15-20 million dollars. She was asked by a former First Warden to help get the towns treasury books in order. She volunteered her time and paid out of her pocket, the wages for one of her employees to help with the job which was by anyones standards, an unmitigated disaster! After being appointed Town Treasurer, she worked for the next few years to get 100's of thousands of dollars in fines and penalties abated that had accumulated from years of unpaid payroll taxes both state and federal and in liens asessed against the town by the IRS, that had been incurred by the former treasurer. She brought all the town finances into one central office instead of being farmed out all over the place. The payroll for all town employees, plus the water and sewer companies. Also all the billing was done from the same place. This was done in a timely manner that precluded the town having to go out and borrow money against anticipated income to keep the town running smoothly. All the towns property tax billing and collection was located there also which contributed to upwards of a 95% collection rate. This town bond rating was one of the highest in the state. I doubt if it still is given the unbelievable mis-management that now prevails in the finance office and the town hall. So I guess this is about it for now. I thought it was time MJ was given the public KUDO'S for all she has down for this town. Remember Joseph Connolly? He used to call her the "IRON LADY" in a slightly derrogatory tone, but in the end as he came to know he,r it became a term of respect. To bad some other people can't see past the outside veneer. Now comes the promised aformentioned question, Please name for me at least (1) one other person on this Island that can even come close to equalling her deeds? Be they monentary, or deeds of compassion and helpfulness to an individual . I am sincerely ended! TTFN Everett .

A Blustery Day on the Many Acred Island

This is for all the BI afficianados who are UNfortunate enough to be away from here right now. When I got up this AM and looked out my window, surprise, I couldn't! So I poked my head out the door and my driveway had disappeared under a blanket Santas favorite form of precipitation! It has been snowing hard all night with the wind gusting to 60+ mph. I'm sure there are some hellacious drifts in many places today. Haven't heard one snowplow in the nite. They usually always manage to wake me. I assume they are either in the garage safe and sound or buried in the aforementioned drifts along the road somewhere. It is a good thing that we have a lot of backhoes and bull dozers 'cause I think they are going to get a good work out pushing stuff other than dirt!
Just checked the Hartford radar loop and it looks like we are still in the center of a huge counterclockwise rotating band of snow that extends out to about 150 mioles in all directions. It also appears to be sitting virtually DIW, i.e. dead in the water! Well if we don't all die of starvation, loneliness, or kill each other from bad cases of cabin fever, "I'll be back" so sayeth Arnold S. TTFN Everett

Response to Mr. Deluca85

Sir, It is true that quite a few of the businesses on Block Island are owned by what you refer to as "locals". Many of the bigger and biggest ones though are controlled and owned by folks who do not maintain a year round domicile here on BI. True, they do employ many of the Island workers from high schoolers upward in age. "Off Islanders" own practically all of the land spaces not committed to Open space. I haven't tried recently to determine just exactly how many actual Block Islanders there are here now. I refer specifically to those born, raised and who lived here till the bitter end. I can claim the first and soon to be last category,but not too soon, but not the the 'Lived here" part as I spent 20 years in the USN. The "Off Islanders" wound up owning most of the Island because till the middle of the sixties you lived hand to mouth or not at all here. They came from NY, NJ, CT,MA , from everywhere and saw what an idyllic place it was . One brought two friends and so on till most of the Island had changed hands. You are right that people of the Island benefit from the tourism that abounds here. It is a lot of trickle down economics that keeps a lot of us going. When you refered to my business, it sounded as if you thought I was one of the people who was dead set against toursim. Well I'm here to tell you that we in my family all know that without the tourist we'd all be long gone! We do realize which side of the bread has the good stuff on it!. About the taxi business you are also right in that you have to be a year round resident to HOLD a taxi license but not to DRIVE one. I think that everyone who owns a business here understands just what drives the economy. You are right about it being"awful" about the locals having to sell out and move away. It is at that stage right now ,or at least some damn close. There is no way in hell that any of my kids or grandkids will ever be able to buy a piece of ground out here, because of the already pricey 2,3, and 4 million dollar homes! I don't think there is any possibility of the business owners not showing up for any particular summer season. They all pretty much understand, "whence cometh the bread". Hope I've answered some of your questions. Sincerely, Everett

Bipco

Well here it is friday again, the new paper is out and more fodder for we bloggers! I'm not a CPA nor anything other kind of financial genius, but I can read my Electric bill from Bipco. The first question is, "Does Narr. Elec. have a monthly customer charge and if so how much is it per month?" Next, "Does Narra. Elec. have a fuel surcharge and how much is that and how is it determined? This month my electric bill for the energy that I actually used was $68.78. That sounds good. The Fuel Cost Adj. was $149.68. Even using my worn out cranium based computer that works out to a little more than double. THAT doesn't sound so good! So adding up all the costs, I wind up paying $228.46 for the juice I used. I don't mind paying for what I use, but I do mind using the fuel cost adj. as a way to circumvent the rates allowed by the PUC! Put the total cost of the Kw's into the energy charge and then see just how close to other electric companies we come! I'm sure it wouldn't even be close! Jeez all my LPG customers, better look out that We don't start charging a fee just for the privilege of being a customer. That would give me about $12K more a year on the bottom line! I wonder how much it adds to Bipco's with a lot bigger customer base than I have? Keep a sharp eye out for rapers and pillagers everybody! TTFN Everett

Comments welcome

So it is nice to see that a few folks are looking at this thing and I hope that more will in the future. If you REALLY want to say something to us all go right ahead! If you want to remain a-nonny-mouse, sign a name that only you would recognize. If you want only ME to see it , put it in an email. My address is: elittle@verizon.net Keep talking folks! Look what happened with the one about the roads.It even got a reply from Thelma and I didn't even know she was computer literate! They must have some darn good computers in that "up here" place she was talking about. TTFN Everett

B I Roads

Has anyone noticed how the edges of the roads have begun to look like they did when John Littlefield was running the State Road crew? It is nice to see the stone walls again. But once you leave the grass and get to the asphalt it is a different story. Go for a nice slow walk along the Neck road and keep an eye on the very edge. You will see that the edges are all beginning to crumble and that there are long cracks radiating out toward the center of the road. In addition there are lots of small holes in the travel lane that are bout the size of a baseball and up. These are sure to develop into good sized potholes over time. Right now would be a good time for them to be filled and all the cracks resealed as they were a few years ago. But who is it that is going to do that? As I understood it at the time of all the discussions between us and the State, they would be the ones to do those things. How does the Town get them to move on their commitment? Just submit a letter of request for action? More likely, it will become an ongoing and very lengthy process before any action will result! When the State comes to refurbish High Street, is it going to be one truck full of asphalt at a time, or are they going to set up a portable plant as they did back in the seventies? Very doubtful on the plant scenario.
The roads here on the Island were never built with the thought in mind of the type and amount of traffic that they now endure. The base for all of them is mostly dirt and small grain sand. Further along in time, as more and more of these big trailer trucks loaded to the gills traverse the roads, they will begin to break down faster and faster. Please don't hold your breath while waiting for the State to jump right on their commitment and do a credible job of reconstruction! Everett