March 27, 2008 · 9:20 pm

Underwhelmed by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama

Hillary ClintonAre these two the best that the Democrats have?

Burger King should switch their headquarters from Fountainbleau (FL) to Chappaqua (NY).  After all, with Hillary Clinton in residence they truly are, “The Home of the Whopper.”

Hillary ClintonHillary has always had trouble telling the truth but in the past could count on many in the media to defend or ignore her actions.  Since Barack Obama has become the media darling the former first lady finds herself closely scrutinized after every utterance.

Therefore, she no longer gets a pass when she claims that she has experience in dealing with crises overseas – think Irish peace talks and Bosnian sniper.  Predictably, when the media does its homework and checks into her version of events they find irrefutable facts to disprove her stories.   Confronted with lies she answers with excuses.

Then there is Barack Obama. He went from prospect to suspect with his speech on March 18th.  You and I know that by not announcing that he was separating himself from Jeremiah Wright’s church he gave approval to what went on there. 

Barrack ObamaThe politically astute thing for Obama to do was to toss Reverend Wright and his church under the bus instead of his white grandmother.  Were his supporters then likely to switch over to Hillary or John McCain?  No chance!

Barack stayed with Trinity United Church of Christ even though it’s not politically advantageous because he doesn’t find Reverend Wright’s anti-American rhetoric as offensive as the rest of us do. 

Certainly, Reverend Wright’s rhetoric is indefensible and he should know better because he’s acquainted with the Bible.  Yes, there are places in the Bible where Jesus was angry at what he saw going on around him.  Reverend Wright seems to have this anger side covered but there are also places where Jesus insisted on the need to forgive others.  Somewhere during the 20+ years of listening to Reverend Wright, Barack should have clearly noted the imbalanced tone of Wright’s messages and moved elsewhere. 

There is an obvious shortage of bumper stickers for Obama or Hillary in Newburyport.  I guess that even the most ardent Democrat is in a quandary defending either of them.

George Bush leaves office on January 20, 2009.  Heaven help us if either Hillary or Barack is anywhere near the premises when it happens.

(Appeared in The Newburyport Daily News on April 2nd and Newburyport Current on April 4th)

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March 14, 2008 · 5:22 pm

Stephen Karp Woos Newburyport

President George Washington visited Newburyport in October of 1789 on a nationwide tour.  The purpose of all the travel? By visiting in person and conversing with the locals, the first president hoped to prevent sectionalism from dividing the new nation.

Stephen Karp 3-13-08Stephen Karp’s appearance in Newburyport at the crowded Rupert Nock Auditorium on March 13 had similar purposes.  He hoped to go from, “Stephen Karp the secretive billionaire who owns most of the waterfront,” to, “Stephen Karp a person who greeted you, answered questions, and gave glimpses of his development plans.”

Did he succeed?  I think so because even in the most dangerous of scenarios (question and answer period) he was able to give responses that seemed to, at least temporarily, satisfy the questioners.

The 600+ folks that showed up pleasantly surprised Newburyport Mayor John Moak.  “This is being well received by the community,” he said while watching Stephen Karp interact with many of us.  “There’s a good mix of people already here.”

The mayor had met with Stephen Karp earlier in the evening.  “I came away with the impressions that he is a good person, with a nice sense of humor, a good sense of family, and incredibly successful in business.”

During his presentation in the auditorium, the soft-spoken, 67-year-old Karp touched on several areas of concern in the region that brought people to the meeting – Waterfront West.

Why is it taking so long (three years) to get the development started?  “We’ve been developing properties for 35 years.  Planning and regulations are the things that take time.”

Are we trying to create another Nantucket (Karp is a major real estate owner there)?  “No, Newburyport is a different market.  Nantucket is seasonal.  We’re not foolish enough to try and force Nantucket on you.”

To the surprise of no one, the visitor from Weston brought up lack of downtown parking.  “You have to address it and it must be done soon.  Things will not work without this issue being taken care of.  We could help and have done so in other places we’ve developed.”

Much of what Stephen Karp had to say was short on specifics and long on optimism.  “We value Newburyport and think that it is a special place.  We believe that we can add to its vitality without taking away anything that is already here.”

Time will tell.  In the meantime, those attending the meeting now know him a lot better and that could ease some of the perils of developing such a significant eight acres of waterfront real estate.

President Washington visited Newburyport and rode off never to return.  That is not the way it will be with Stephen Karp. 

(Submitted to the Town Common – March 14th)

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March 11, 2008 · 2:29 am

Newburyport’s “Greatest” Woman Driver?

I saw the title in the letters to the editor in the March 6 issue of the Newburyport Daily News and prepared myself for some explosive reading.

The title?  “Seeking information about ‘World’s Greatest Woman Driver’ “

I felt let down when I learned in the article that a woman from London (Deborah Cherry) was actually searching for information about another woman (Fay Taylour) who drove in car races quite a while ago.

I was expecting, based on the title, that some gentleman from the area would pour out some negative references to some of the driving habits of women he had observed on the streets of Newburyport.  I guess it was the “greatest” part that sent me down the wrong road.

I was anticipating some mention of a woman at a traffic light in town using her mirror to rearrange her facial appearance.  When the light changed, she failed to notice and instead continued with her cosmetic surgery.  How thoughtful of someone woman driverto honk their horn in appreciation of her improved looks!

I was also guessing that the young mother with the cell phone on the ear in one hand, steering wheel in the other, young kid in the backseat, and dog further back might appear in the letter.  When the light changed, around the corner she went with a one-hand turn, no directional, and little interest in the rate of speed.  There was no way that she was paying sufficient attention to driving.  Dangerous?  You bet.

Not so long ago describing someone as a, “woman driver,” referred to a person who was uncertain or cautious behind the wheel and usually that “someone” was a woman.  Not anymore!  There’s not a whole lot of caution and uncertainty around anymore by anyone. 

Many men are too aggressive behind the wheel and many women are too distracted.  My concern level regarding bad driving has not reached my fear of the possibility of Hillary or Obama being President but it is getting there. 

(This was sent as a letter-to-the-editor of The Newburyport Daily News on 3-11-08.)

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March 5, 2008 · 12:58 am

Tim Holland Has Major League Aspirations

Most of us dream at night. 

Tim Holland 3-4-08

Tim Holland, pictured here, expanded his dreaming to full-time during his sophomore year at Georgetown High School.

“I started to think then that baseball might take me somewhere,” explained the 6-1/175 pound senior.  “It was my best year and I started to get mail from colleges and rumors began about teams being interested in me.”

Royals coach Mark Rowe realized that Tim was a talented player the year before.  “He was a starter for me as a freshman at second base.  We went to the Division 3 North finals that year with a team that was mostly seniors.  He fit right in.”

And even before witnessing Tim’s senior year the 10th year coach stated, “He’s the best baseball player to come through Georgetown since I’ve been coaching. He pretty much does it all.  I’ve heard from the White Sox, Cubs, and Indians about him.”

 “This year he’ll play shortstop when he’s not pitching,” said Coach Rowe of his 2-time Cape Ann League All-Star.  “We’ll go as far as he takes us.  We have a nice supporting cast but we need for him to have a big year for us.”

Next year Tim expects to attend Lake City Community Junior College (about 60 miles west of Jacksonville in northern Florida) on a baseball scholarship.  The fact that the Timberwolves’ baseball season starts on January 25th, and any cancellations will be for rain and not for that other stuff, would be incentive enough to go there. 

In addition to the favorable outdoor, workout weather, it was a couple of area baseball players – Matt Small (Ipswich) and Mike Gallo (Peabody) – who helped steer Tim to Lake City.  “I played on teams around here with both of them.  They were both very positive about the school. Mike pitches on this year’s team.”

At Lake City Tim will play in front of the folks (major league scouts) he needs to impress.  And who could blame the scouts for attending? Last year 15 former Lake City players were in the minors and two (Reggie Abercrombie and Heath Phillips) were in the majors.

“I look to do two years of real competitive baseball and then see where I am,” explained Tim. “I could be in the minors or maybe in a 4-year college.”

Tim’s favorite player is BJ Upton of Tampa Bay.  “He can do everything and that’s the kind of player that I think I am.  I’ve played the outfield, infield, and pitched.  And also, like BJ, I have speed.”

Tim wears #17.  “I wanted #5 (Nomar Garciaparra) but that number didn’t exist.  Since I joined the Georgetown varsity as the only freshman that meant that I got the last number available – #17.  Things went so well the first two years that I decided to stick with it.”

The Holland name probably won’t leave the area sports pages when Tim graduates in June thanks to his sisters.  “One of my sisters made the high school soccer varsity as an 8th grader and was the team’s leading scorer this season,” bragged Tim.  “My other sister is 12 and tells me that she’s going to be the first girl on the high school varsity baseball team.”

Keep an eye on Tim Holland of Georgetown.  He has a dream and he might just have what it takes to make that dream come true.

(Appeared in The Town Common in the issue dated March 12th)

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February 28, 2008 · 6:19 pm

Masco Girls Excel in Regular Season

I interviewed Masco girls’ coach Bob Romeo recently (February 27th) about the terrific 19-1 regular season his team just finished.Masco coaches 2-27-08

(Pictured is Coach Romeo with his assistants: JV coach Becky Iseman, freshman coach Karen Babbitt, assistant coach Leo Burke)

The Chieftains returned three starters from a 20-3 squad that reached the Division 2 North semifinals last year.  A look at this season’s stats indicates that each of those returning starters (Annie Burns, Jamie White, and Caroline Stewart) has been significant in the success of the 2007-08 squad.  Annie is the assists leader, Jamie the steals leader, and Caroline leads in just about everything else.

Caroline’s per-game double/double (17 points/12 rebounds) has gotten her to the Boston Herald All-Scholastic level twice.  Even better for the 6-footer has been the full basketball scholarship she recently accepted to Boston University.

New starters this year are junior Krissi DiBenedetto (7+ points per game) and senior Meredith DeAngelis.  “One of the unsung heroes on this year’s team is Meredith,” said Coach Romeo.  “She’s just 5-7 but we usually put her on the other team’s biggest kid.  She’s our defensive stopper.”

The Masco girls were 13-0 in the Cape Ann League and had to defeat their archrival Pentucket in the process.  “Pentucket was the favorite to win the league and we beat them here by two points (55-53) in a whale of a game.  We were down by six with a couple minutes left but we came all the way back and iced it with free throws at the end.”

Masco’s only loss was in Game 3 against nonleague Cardinal Spellman in overtime.  Coach Romeo contended that the loss did his team a lot of good.  “Cardinal Spellman was ranked #1 in Eastern Massachusetts so we knew that they would be tough but that’s what we want in the nonleague part of our schedule.  We played great against them but at the end both Caroline and Jamie fouled out.  The good that came out of this was that we had to put inexperienced sophomores (Julie Galvin and Carly Kiernan) into the fire and they gained valuable experience.  It also was an important lesson to Caroline and Jamie that their value to us in on the court not fouling people.”

The Chieftains rolled off 17 straight wins after the Cardinal Spellman loss and were seeded #1 in Division 2 North. 

I asked the 6th-year coach to compare this team to other one’s he’s coached at Masco.  “I’ve been told that this may not be the most talented team I’ve ever had but it could be the best.  It may well be that these kids are more in synch with each other.  They spend a lot of time together away from the court.”

One of the team’s most positive supporters is Jamie’s father (Jo Jo White – Boston Celtics).  “The only words we get from him are words of encouragement.  I know that during the off-season he’s done a lot of work with Jamie.”

The team will need to win four games to get to the Division 2 championship game in Worcester on March 15th.   It could well happen.

(Appeared in The Town Common in an issue dated March 5th)
 

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February 14, 2008 · 5:01 pm

Ryan O’Connell Sets Scoring Record at St. John’s Prep

(Danvers)  Senior Night at St. John’s Prep was, “awesome,” according to 18-year-old Ryan O’Connell of Ipswich.

Maureen Ryan O'Connell 2-14-08Who could argue with his assessment after seeing him honored (as a senior) and then get himself into the St. John’s basketball record book as their all-time scorer.   Add that the Eagles defeated visiting Malden High 77-73, he put up 31 points, and you can understand what he meant by “awesome.”

Ryan, pictured here with his mother Maureen,  may be a 6-3 sharpshooter but St. John’s Coach Dan Letarte was quick to mention that Ryan’s abilities go beyond basketball.  “No question that he is a student/athlete.  His grade point average is 3.5.  He’ll be going to Bowdoin (Brunswick, Maine) in the fall.”

“I chose Bowdoin because I wanted to get into the best academic school I could get into and play basketball at,” explained Ryan after the game.

Before the game, however, the talk at St. John’s on Valentine’s Day evening wasn’t about grades it was about Ryan needing four points to pass Matt Symmes and become the school’s top scorer.  Sporting a 25-point average, you knew it wasn’t a matter of if he would get the points needed but when it would happen.

Ryan was stymied by an effective box-and-one defense in the first period but erupted for 27 points in the second and third periods.  The record-breaking basket came at the end of a 2-on-1 fast break with sophomore playmaker Brendan Felder.  “Brendan told me that he wanted to get the assist on the record-breaking basket and he did.”

Ryan’s first four baskets in this game were two-pointers and then the long-range shots started to fall.  He made five of the next six 3’s he tried despite being tightly defended. 

Coach Letarte has encouraged Ryan to shoot the long-range shot.  “He shoots 52% from out there and he’s not afraid to take that shot at any time in the game. I have confidence in him.”

“I played the post as a freshman on the JV team,” said Ryan.  “I realized as a sophomore that I wasn’t tall enough to play that position on the varsity so that’s when I started working on my 3-point shooting and that’s been my specialty.”

The consistent release and rotation on his 3-point shots comes from hours of practice.  Ryan is a regular at the Ipswich Y.  “I know for a fact that either before practice or after practice he’ll go over to the Ipswich Y and put up 200 three-pointers and work on his ball-handling skills,” said Coach Letarte.

An injury to a starting St. John’s guard put Ryan into the starting lineup in Game #10 of his sophomore year.  “It was against BC High the eventual Number 1 seed in the North,” recalled Coach Letarte.  “Ryan scored 24 points and became a fixture in the starting lineups thereafter”.

On hand to witness Ryan’s record-setting performance, and pass congratulations his way, were many of his friends from Ipswich including Tiger coach Doug Woodworth. 

(Submitted to The Town Common on February 15, 2008)

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February 11, 2008 · 9:08 pm

I Voted for Barack Obama

Barrack Obama

I am writing to congratulate myself for voting for Barack Obama and being part of his 28-vote victory in Newburyport in the Democrat primary.

My vote was not based on Mr. Obama’s skin color because I’m not a racist.  I do admit,however, that I do not watch BET (Black Entertainment Television) or support the United Negro College Fund because they’re racist.

My vote was not based on Barack’s middle name, “Hussein.” That middle name is part of his Moslem background.  If I let his background factor into my vote, I would be a racist and I’m not.  However, if I learned that his hand was going to be on the Koran instead of the Bible when he was sworn in to the presidency I would vote against him.  That’s not being racist. That is believing that the Bible, not the Koran, contains the truths that I want my leader to pledge allegiance to.

My vote was not based on Barack being against the war in Iraq.  Barack was in the State Senate, not the US Senate, when the vote for that war took place.  If he had been confronted with the same evidence that President Bush and Hillary Clinton were confronted with he would have voted to go ahead with the war. 

My vote was not based on Barack’s belief that abortion should be available in all nine months of pregnancy.  I am opposed to abortion and consider the slaughter of unborn children to be a horrific tragedy.

My vote is not based on Barack’s willingness to put an end to some of the tax cuts that have been enacted during the current administration.  I defy anyone to explain to me how sending me out into the buying world with less money is going to help the economy. 

My vote is not based on Barack’s talk of unifying the country.  I believe that his idea of “unity” is for me to change my previously held positions and switch to his.  I have a right to my opinion even if it disagrees with his opinion.  Labeling opinions that are different from his, “divisive,” is a step toward trying to shut off constructive dialogue. 

My vote is not based on the endorsements of Senator Kerry and Senator Kennedy.  Those two are the punch lines of jokes in any comic setting.  Kerry was offered $1 million to clear up the controversy surrounding his service in the Vietnam War.  He proved that either he didn’t need the money or he couldn’t clear his name by taking no action.  Kennedy looked out his ocean-side window and decided that his view was more important than a wind energy program that would lower electricity rates on the Cape.

So why did I vote for Barack Obama?  Quite simply it was a vote against Hillary Clinton. 

At a dinner party recently, I heard someone say that they were voting for Hillary because, “she was the only one that they could trust.”  You’re right, it stunned me too!  If past performance means anything, Hillary is the one that can’t be trusted.

Let me make a prediction: Barack Obama is going to get the Democrat nomination but during the trip to also-rans, the Clintons are going to tear that party apart.  It gives me pleasure to think that I may have had a hand in that process in a voting booth at the Brown School.

( Appeared in both the Newburyport Current and the Newburyport Daily News on February 15, 2008. )

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February 5, 2008 · 7:52 pm

Hillary Clinton Finds a Friend?

Super Tuesday

Please don’t tell the senator from New York that the only support she received from me on Super Tuesday was propping up her sign.

Truth be told, I voted for Obama in the hope of lessening the Hillary margin in Massachusetts. I couldn’t imagine Mitt needing my help in his own state.

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January 29, 2008 · 6:39 pm

Surprising Behavior by Senator John Kerry and Michael Cook

What is this world coming to? 

Is it possible that prolific letter writer Michael Cook wrote an entire entry for last week’s Newburyport Current (“Culture of celebrity is all about marketing”) without including “President Bush” and an unflattering adjective in the same sentence?

Is it also possible that our Senator Kerry called former president Bill Clinton a “liar” last Friday?

It is not only possible but also true in both cases.  I found both occurrences refreshing.

I will admit that I generally only read Michael’s entries until the word “Bush” shows up.  After that, the Far Left talking points start and my interest vanishes.  I’m not crazy about President Bush, especially on immigration, but he is not the cause of all the evil in the world. 

In this article, which I was able to read in its entirety, Michael opined on a topic that my wife and I have discussed more than a few times: “Why do some of the lightweights of our society get paid so much money?”  Like us, Michael wonders why those who really make a difference in society struggle to get by. 

Michael credits this unfairness to the fact that the successful are getting assistance from publicists while the rest of us are not.  We may be doing great things but no one is notifying the media of it or setting up contacts that will lead to financial rewards.  I absolutely agree.

I do think we have to remember that we live in a culture that is willing to pay dearly to be entertained.  Those offering the entertainment know this.  When ticket prices go up people are outraged.  However, they do have two choices – pay or stay home.  Most choose to pay and that just emboldens those offering the entertainment.

Michael thinks that the sordid lifestyles of many of the celebrities will eventually lessen our interest in following them and/or paying to see them perform.  I hope he’s right but after flipping through the TV channels and seeing previews of coming attractions, I think that those providing the entertainment totally disagree with Michael on this point.   The faces and thoughts of fools are constantly before us today and most likely will be there tomorrow. 

When the Super Bowl is over and they start interviewing the participants you can bet that more than a few players will be an embarrassment to watch………but we’ll watch just to see if they embarrass themselves.  Of course, if they’re celebrating Patriots players we’ll bear with it and the networks know that.

John Kerry 

The other pleasant surprise I referred to was Kerry calling Clinton a liar.   It wasn’t breaking news that the Clintons are often free and easy with the truth it was just that Senator Kerry showed some moxie and went after the Clintons.   Kerry’s endorsement of Obama early this month didn’t cause much of a stir. I, in fact, thought that Kerry’s endorsement might do Obama more harm than good since Senator Kerry is about as popular as those dogs that leave their calling cards down on the Merrimac River boardwalk are. 

It aggravated many Obama supporters that because Kerry delayed his endorsement he fumbled a chance to help Obama in the neighboring New Hampshire primary.  A number of national media types, much to his embarrassment, noted Kerry’s poor timing. 

The media criticism stirred Senator Kerry into action.  He made sure that he wasn’t late in having an impact in Massachusetts on Super Tuesday (February 5th).  This time around he not only told the truth about the former President but also reinforced his support for Senator Obama.  Hillary currently has a 30+ point lead in the polls in Massachusetts.  However, with Governor Patrick, along with Kerry and now Senator Kennedy backing Obama it could get a lot closer come primary day. 

So, thank you Michael Cook and John Kerry for pleasantly surprising me.

(Submitted to the Newburyport Current on January 29th as a letter to the editor. )
 

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January 17, 2008 · 7:04 pm

Former Clipper Ben Chase Stars at Emerson College

(Beverly) Ben Chase is having the time of his life.

Ben at medium size 

The former Newburyport Clipper basketball player is in his senior year at Emerson College in Boston and was an important part of a team that crushed Endicott College at Beverly on Wednesday evening, 85-53, in a nonconference game.

I spoke with Emerson coach Hank Smith prior to the game about Ben.  With no prompting, he paid the young man some significant compliments including;

“Ben is the only person in my 14 seasons as head coach to serve as captain for three years and we’ve had some great players at Emerson during that time.  He was not over his head in that position even as a young player.

“He has a serious approach to everything he does.  He is the type of role model you want for everybody.”

Coach Smith also added that, “Ben has always put himself in a position to succeed because his attitude and effort were always good.” 

In the game against Endicott, Ben poured in 21 of his game-high 27 points in the first half.  With the lead over 30 (76-44) Ben sat the last 6 ½ minutes or his totals might have been even higher.

Ben admitted afterwards that the 21-point first half was the best he had ever had.  Good time to have a big game since his parents, Robert and Lynn, were in attendance as well as his girlfriend Kim.  “This is the closest game we’ve had to Newburyport since I’ve been at Emerson so it was easier for them to see me play.”

At 6’1”, you might assume that Ben would be a guard.  You would assume wrong.  “He’s basically a 3 or 4 man because we play all small guys,” said Coach Smith.  “At times he’s our biggest player.”

Endicott was taller at every position than Emerson but it didn’t make an ounce of difference.  The Lions never pressed but still forced 26 turnovers in a relentless half-court, man-to-man defense.  On offense the Lions were in perpetual motion and made many successful darts to the basket.  When asked about his team’s quickness Ben said, “We don’t have any height.  All we have is quickness.”  That quickness has taken Emerson to an 11-1 start. 

Ben said that he grew up playing basketball in Newburyport.  “I learned so much from my high school coach and from Coach Lucey when I was younger.  Coach Lucey retired when I was in 8th grade but I played at youth camps he ran.  They started in me a love for the game that I haven’t lost.”

Coach Smith saw Ben play for Newburyport.  “He was a pretty good player in high school.  However, I wasn’t sure how he would do at the college level.  He could shoot the ball but what I liked the most about him was his attitude and the way he approached the game.”

Attending Emerson was a nice fit for Ben.  “It is a small art school and I figured that I could do film.  I also saw the opportunity to continue to play basketball.”

You get a sense of the “good” attitude that Coach Smith alluded to when Ben talks about his freshman season at Emerson.  “I barely played but we had some great senior leaders on that team.  I had the best seat in the house to learn from them.”

Ben has not been an all-league player in Emerson’s conference (Great Northeastern Athletic Conference) but that will almost certainly change at the end of this season.  Ben is scoring over 16 points per game with a number of outstanding performances in the mix.

“He has had a lot of memorable games this season,” recalled Coach Smith.  “He was MVP in the tournament at Vassar.  In the championship game, he had 25 points and was 11-for-13 from the field.  The two shots he missed he got his own rebound.  Against MIT, he was 9-for-10 and had 23 points in 21 minutes.  In a big win at Lasell he had 30 points.  He has been hitting at a very high percentage.”  Ben continued that high percentage versus Endicott making 11-of-17 shots. 

Ben has high praise for Coach Smith.  “He is fantastic.  He knows more about basketball than anyone I’ve met in my life.”  When asked specifically about what Coach Smith had taught him he replied, “To make a long story short – everything.”

Ben says that he still spends a lot of time in Newburyport visiting his mother, father, and sister at Parker Ridge.  However, that could end if things go as he hopes after graduation.  “An alumnus from the Emerson basketball program (Sam Presti) was named General Manager of the Seattle Supersonics last year.  With a little luck, I am hoping to get an internship position out there.  It would start out as a generic internship and then possibly move to player development and scouting.”

Blessed with a remarkable attitude and work ethic it is not difficult to picture Ben Chase leading the Emerson Lions to the best season they have ever had as well being highly successful in life after college.

( January 17, 2008 – appeared in the Newburyport Daily News )
 

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