noankjail

Notes from the Old Noank Jail

Noank’s Universal Store Closes

Recently, we learned that a well known Noank Landmark, the Universal Food Store, had closed its doors, primarily because of Hurricane Irene. I looked back to my previous TIMES article files from 2006 and found the following material.

“Recently, my wife visited family out of state, leaving me to decide what to eat and where to buy the food. I have never been a fan of big box stores with their canned music, loud PA systems, confusing coupons and impersonal attitudes.

My salvation is a small grocery store on Pearl Street in Noank which stocks fresh farm vegetables and meat, home made casseroles, canned and frozen food, with the addition of a pizza oven and deli counter. The Universal Store has been in Frank Quartella’s family since the ’40’s and is old fashioned, with 3 isles, old photos, model boats, antique typewriters and friendly employees.

There is no canned music or PA system and they don’t use coupons. Smaller stores like this have difficulty competing favorably against big supermarkets, but for local convenience, quality, ease of use, lack of noise and friendly atmosphere, they definitely have their place in my world. And Universal benefits from having a generous landlord who has invested capitol in the building in order to encourage the local population as regular customers. Time will tell if that population will respond.

So, goodbye to the tension and gasoline expense of driving five miles to crowded supermarket parking lots, listening to canned music and fumbling with coupons. Smaller is better and life is good.”

Unfortunately, life isn’t so good any more because Universal is now shut down. A good friend sent me a note with the following comments:

” A sad day for Noank An extremely sad end for a family business that supported Noank for decades. Frank and his crew will be missed. Another victim of our move as a society to large and impersonal business. Big box stores, Internet commerce, corporate control. While we may be saving a few bucks on small transactions, we are now seeing the true cost. And when our banking system stops working, as it is close to doing, the result will be ugly. Universal may well be the “canary in the coal mine” for our society. Not real proud of my generation right now.”

In closing, I am reminded of an old saying…if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Notes from the Old Noank Jail

Groton’s Educational “System”

Recently, the Groton Board of Education (BOE) voted to continue the employment of the School Superintendent, Mr. Paul Kadri, through the year 2014. Apparently, the BOE was satisfied with Mr. Kadri’s performance during the past few years. However, it would seem that some of the members of the BOE have failed to recognize the significance of the event that occurred a few months ago when Phase II was presented to the Groton voters.

Phase II, in its most recent, revised form, was turned down by the citizens in a huge 3 to 1 ratio landslide rejection. It was an expensive, grandiose plan which was flawed on many levels, including an undersized location for a large new middle school near a congested intersection, an unnecessary astro turf project and an early education program unfunded by the State. It was also a rejection, by association, of the superintendent himself, who was perceived by many to be trying to stuff the project down peoples throats.

The BOE had previously established a Phase II plan which involved expansion at the Kolnaski property. When Mr. Kadri arrived on the scene, he brought in his own engineer who didn’t even avail himself of any prior design work and instead followed Mr. Kadri’s direction to focus on the Chester School property. It then became a question of whether the BOE or Mr. Kadri was really running the show. And don’t forget that the BOE voted in favor of the Chester plan by just one slim vote.

The Groton voters clearly did not want to support a large, expensive school system and clearly wanted a major change on how the schools would be managed. They wanted a BOE that would listen to their voices rather than cloister as a group and make private decisions “for the good of the children.”

Part of the frustration here is that the BOE organization itself exists with a mandate from the state and does not have to report to the nine member elected Town Council except for a final budget review. In short, with their staggered terms and limitations on voting districts, they are really not representative of the citizens.

And now the BOE is adding back yet another administrative position in the form of a “Grants Administrator” at a salary in the $90,000 range. This has the appearance of a “shell game” to keep adding professional staff at high salary levels. This is reminiscent of Mr. Kadri’s previous decision to give raises last year to several administrators who had performed “extra work” while teachers salaries remained unchanged.

Do we have to keep putting up with this? The BOE needs to undergo some serious attitude changes in order to properly represent the Citizens of Groton, and the Superintendent needs to follow that lead. And let’s have no more “administrative” additions at $90,000 salaries. Wake up, folks…we can’t afford it.

Tax the Wealthy, Stop the Mint

08/20/2011 11:17 AM

NOTES FROM THE OLD NOANK JAIL

Twelve members of Congress will take on the job of rearranging our country’s finances and are instructed to reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion. They must achieve more than that. Americans are losing faith in Congress to deal with fiscal problems. Immediate action can reduce that doubt. The twelve should also turn to the revenue issue and leave rates for the majority of US taxpayers unchanged.

For those American taxpaying citizens with income of more than $1 million annually, raise the rates immediately on taxable income in excess of that $1 million including dividends and/or capital gains. For those who make $5 million or more annually, as above, add an additional tax rate.

The very wealthy have been too well treated by Congress in recent years and they now need to share in the re-building of America’s economy which has treated them so well. If our existing representatives in Congress cannot (or will not) enforce this type of action, they need to be voted out of office as soon as possible.

In addition, back in 2005, Congress authorized the Presidential Memorial $1.00 Coin project which has now been minted far in excess of demand. This project costs the American taxpayers $600,000 daily and is still proceeding, with transportation and excess storage costs that will exceed $3 million. Congress made this mistake in judgement and needs to correct it now.

Notes from the Old Noank Jail

Memories of Ben Rathbun

by Ed Johnson

Years ago, at the Noank Historical Society, Ben Rathbun was introduced as “Noank’s Renaissance Man.” The noun applies to a man with broad intellectual interests in areas of both arts and sciences.”

Captain Benjamin F. Rathbun, Jr., was born in 1928 and grew up in Noank where “a boy who grew up on the waterfront knew better than to get into a jam where an adult had to rescue him. His Mom would really tan his hide if he pulled such a dumb trick.” Ben’s father was a commercial fisherman and the family lived by the water, where “the waterfront area was the least desirable place in which to live…which is rather ironic when you consider the present situation.” Ben survived the local schools, survived the 1938 and 1944 Hurricanes with his family, built his first “boat” from a packing box in 1939, became an avid reader of history and science, while working with his father as a commercial fisherman, including swordfish charters, before taking over as skipper of the “Anna R” in 1958.

Ben helped show a frustrated President Dwight Eisenhower a good local fishing areas on the sound. Mr. Eisenhower was traveling with the Secret Service in a nearby boat, upset he had not caught any fish, while he watched Ben’s clients reel them in. “Ike was slouched down with a GOLF hat on his head. I had this wild impulse to tell him it was no wonder he wasn’t getting any bites with that GOLF hat on his head but I didn’t want my wife to have to raise the kids all alone, so I kept my mouth shut.” With Ben’s guidance, Mr. Eisenhower did finally catch a fish, to the embarrassment of the Secret Service. One month later, Ben caught a full audit by the IRS…”random selection, my foot!”

Ben lost his father to cancer in 1959 but continued the family business. With guidance from Boat builder Robert Whitaker and private financial assistance from Captain Jack Wilbur, a new wooden “Anna R” was launched in 1960. Ben quoted his late father’s philosophy: “Owning a fishing boat gives you the privilege of being wrong and paying through the nose for the error of your ways.” Ben felt he learned much from his father during his early years, “especially when very few normal teenage males are able to focus their attention on any area above their belt buckle.”

Later, Ben concentrated on Charter operations and purchased a new fiberglass “Anna R” in 1972, designed for sport fishing. In 1986, he turned over this operation to his son Franklin in order to focus on a marine survey business. Ben was later forced by health problems (Parkinson’s) to close the survey office in 1993, and officially “retire.” Either that, or wife Rosalie threatened to kill him if he didn’t take better care of himself.

A person with Ben’s energies and determination never “retires” or ceases to be productive, nor did health issues deter his literary “renaissance.” Ben had totally bypassed the normal college curriculum, holding instead a “Ph.D. in Generalities.” He was well known on the marine lecture circuit and became a leading local authority on Lighthouses. Ben became an active member of the Noank Fire District Executive Committee, the local village governing body. He served as Chairman of NOAA Sea Grant Review Panel, and was part active with Department of Agriculture as well as New England Fisheries Management Council.

More recently, Ben chaired a writing team which produced the 2002 book “Noank, Celebrating a Maritime Heritage,” after previously authoring the 1996 “Captains B.F. Rathbun of Noank,” an enjoyable personal history. Amazingly, Ben was also well versed and comfortable dealing with computers, despite being initially educated in the 1930s. However, it is perhaps Ben’s sense of humor that we most enjoyed. Some of his stories, such as the local minister being accidentally “boiled” in the Church Baptistery, have had us in stitches.

A few years ago, when Ben thought that his illness had gotten the best of him, he insisted on having his Wake ahead of time, so as not to miss a good party. Ben enjoyed himself so much that he then stuck around for eight more years, until finally leaving us on Friday, July 29th, 2011 at age 83.

Renaissance, indeed. We’ll miss you, Ben.

Title: Memories of Orion Ford by Ed Johnson, Noank, CT

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Orion Ford, a long time fixture on the Noank waterfront, passed away on Monday, May 15, 2006. A very well attended Memorial Service to honor his life was conducted by Reverend Dr. Paul Hayes at the Noank Baptist Church on Friday, May 19th. I am sure that many stories have been, and will be, told about this wonderful man, but here are some of my own observations and personal memories.

As a recent obituary summarized, Orion was born in 1934, grew up in the Groton area, graduated from Fitch High School, served 4 years in the Air Force, worked for many years at Electric Boat, and gradually shifted his life focus to operating his own marina business, Ford’s Lobsters, for many years on Riverview Avenue in Noank. Although he never married, in a very real sense Orion “developed” a family. He employed a cook and housekeeper, an older lady named Minnie Hart, and provided space in his home for both Minnie and her granddaughter, Dawn Hart, who later baby-sat for our daughter. Orion basically became the father figure in Dawn’s life.

When my wife and I bought a house in Noank in the seventies, we were always impressed with the clockwork precision of Orion’s daily movements as he drove past our house on his way to work 100 yards down the street in the morning, back out for lunch at his house (cooked by Minnie), returning to the Marina, and then back out again at the end of the day for another home cooked meal (again, by Minnie).

Orion loved his business, and he worked 7 days a week without a whimper. I cannot remember that he took any vacation during the seventies and eighties when I saw him the most. He admired people who worked hard and he had many friends in the fishing fleets who spent time sitting and talking with him on bright sunny days down at the marina…usually on old car seats, arranged in outdoor living room style. I remember that these fishermen “solved” most of the worlds major problems during such encounters, and pray that some record or diary of those high level meetings might actually exist somewhere.

For some reason, Orion and I really hit it off, despite his waterfront background and my own in security alarm sales…an unlikely match. Contrary to popular belief, Orion was not so rigid that he could not recognize some good business opportunities, and so we formed a commercial relationship which lasted several years. At that time, I represented a major manufacturer of fire & security equipment which was sold only through proper commercial dealers. So, we simply set up Orion himself as a “dealer,” which allowed us to sell to our neighbors and friends who wanted to install their own systems. Our best local customer was the Noank Fire District itself that purchased and installed a UL listed Fire Alarm system from Orion which lasted over 20 years before a more recent upgrade of the building. And of course, we had a heavy duty system at the Ford’s Lobsters building, designed to protect the lobsters themselves from actually being stolen.

Marine Gasoline, Diesel Fuel, Lobsters and Alarm Systems….what a combination.

Orion was also a very community minded individual, with considerable practical common sense. He was one of the people instrumental in getting me involved with the local Noank Volunteer Fire Department, a move which has definitely had an effect on my life (mostly from lack of sleep?) but which I have never regretted. And I had a chance to see Orion “in action” at a major fire scene (Blue Meadows) years ago, as he quickly instructed us how to “snake” the fire hose in preparation to attack the fire and then supervised us, very calmly, as we followed his instructions.

In his own way, I thought Orion was a good judge of character, because later, when I developed some medical problems, he referred me to his own Doctor up in Ledyard. When I asked why Orion liked the man, the answer was typically very simple…”because he is one of those good Doctors who gives a damn about his patients.” Obviously, this was the highest recommendation I could ever receive, so I went to the Doctor and have been going to him ever since. Orion was right…he does give a damn.

My favorite memory of Orion was late one Sunday afternoon, years ago, on a hot summer day when I had brought my small motorboat into his marina for gas. Orion always hired strong, young students to help him at the docks during the summer. On that day, Mike Porter was assisting me, and as we were fueling my boat, another larger powerboat pulled into the gas dock near us. The owner (I shall refer to him as “Mr. Mouth”) was sitting up in the flying bridge in his bathing suit, shrieking with glee at no one in particular, telling the world what a great weekend he was having. Empty beer cans lying in the boat told the rest of the story. Orion was standing near one of the other gasoline pumps, very calm, with no expression on his face.

At that point, another powerboat cruised past close to the docks in the Mystic River Channel at a higher than necessary speed, causing an excessive wake. This annoyed Mr. Mouth, who proceeded to exchange “words”…loudly….with the captain of the other boat (I shall call him “Mr. Wake”). The language was rather “salty” with Mr. Wake making inappropriate references to the anatomy of Mr. Mouth, who replied by yelling back a request to Mr. Wake to come over and inspect same more closely. Then, as if to emphasize the point, Mr. Mouth suddenly pulled down his bathing suit and dove headfirst into the water from the flying bridge, exposing his backside to the passengers of Mr. Wake, including some ladies who screamed.

Mike Porter and I observed all of this, then turned to each other, trying very hard not to laugh. I looked over at Orion, still standing near the gasoline pump, and his expression had not changed at all. Slowly and calmly, he walked over to the edge of the dock and peered down at Mr. Mouth splashing and giggling in the water.

“Excuse me, sir, did you want to buy some gas?”

I know I’ll always think of Orion…especially when I walk down the street past his Lobster shack…or when I go to see my Doctor.

Turn the Noank School building over to the Noank Fire District. Have the Town provide some initial building repairs and allow the Town to place the Dept. of Parks and Recreation in the office area of that building. Keep the kitchen and gymnasium/stage area in service for events and large meetings. Keep the outside grounds open to the public in a park-like atmosphere.

Tell the potential developers to go away…we don’t need more development. Enough, already.

Turn the Spicer House and the nearby field over to the Noank Fire District and allow all current boating, informal athletic and picnic use to continue.

These changes will greatly benefit the citizens in the area as well as visitors…and will help reduce future maintenance costs to the Town.

Lets use common sense with these existing resources. Once they are gone, we’ll never get them back.

Here is an update and the actual article that came out, briefly describing what may be the most incredibly stupid financial blunder in history….

By Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times

June 13, 2011
Reporting from Washington—
After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the George W. Bush administration flooded the conquered country with so much cash to pay for reconstruction and other projects in the first year that a new unit of measurement was born.

Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills. They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of all time.

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U.S. insurer faces criminal investigation over Iraqis’ unpaid death benefits
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Database: California’s war dead Database: California’s war dead

This month, the Pentagon and the Iraqi government are finally closing the books on the program that handled all those Benjamins. But despite years of audits and investigations, U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion in cash — enough to run the Los Angeles Unified School District or the Chicago Public Schools for a year, among many other things.

For the first time, federal auditors are suggesting that some or all of the cash may have been stolen, not just mislaid in an accounting error. Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an office created by Congress, said the missing $6.6 billion may be “the largest theft of funds in national history.”

The mystery is a growing embarrassment to the Pentagon, and an irritant to Washington’s relations with Baghdad. Iraqi officials are threatening to go to court to reclaim the money, which came from Iraqi oil sales, seized Iraqi assets and surplus funds from the United Nations’ oil-for-food program.

It’s fair to say that Congress, which has already shelled out $61 billion of U.S. taxpayer money for similar reconstruction and development projects in Iraq, is none too thrilled either.

“Congress is not looking forward to having to spend billions of our money to make up for billions of their money that we can’t account for, and can’t seem to find,” said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), who presided over hearings on waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq six years ago when he headed the House Government Reform Committee.

Theft of such a staggering sum might seem unlikely, but U.S. officials aren’t ruling it out. Some U.S. contractors were accused of siphoning off tens of millions in kickbacks and graft during the post-invasion period, especially in its chaotic early days. But Iraqi officials were viewed as prime offenders.

The U.S. cash airlift was a desperation measure, organized when the Bush administration was eager to restore government services and a shattered economy to give Iraqis confidence that the new order would be a drastic improvement on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

The White House decided to use the money in the so-called Development Fund for Iraq, which was created by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to hold money amassed during the years when Hussein’s regime was under crippling economic and trade sanctions.

The cash was carried by tractor-trailer trucks from the fortress-like Federal Reserve currency repository in East Rutherford, N.J., to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, then flown to Baghdad. U.S. officials there stored the hoard in a basement vault at one of Hussein’s former palaces, and at U.S. military bases, and eventually distributed the money to Iraqi ministries and contractors.

But U.S. officials often didn’t have time or staff to keep strict financial controls. Millions of dollars were stuffed in gunnysacks and hauled on pickups to Iraqi agencies or contractors, officials have testified.

House Government Reform Committee investigators charged in 2005 that U.S. officials “used virtually no financial controls to account for these enormous cash withdrawals once they arrived in Iraq, and there is evidence of substantial waste, fraud and abuse in the actual spending and disbursement of the Iraqi funds.”

Pentagon officials have contended for the last six years that they could account for the money if given enough time to track down the records. But repeated attempts to find the documentation, or better yet the cash, were fruitless.

Iraqi officials argue that the U.S. government was supposed to safeguard the stash under a 2004 legal agreement it signed with Iraq. That makes Washington responsible, they say.

Abdul Basit Turki Saeed, Iraq’s chief auditor and president of the Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit, has warned U.S. officials that his government will go to court if necessary to recoup the missing money.

“Clearly Iraq has an interest in looking after its assets and protecting them,” said Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq’s ambassador to the United States.

paul.richter@latimes.com

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

And now, to add insult to injury, we learn that $6.2 Billion is missing, stolen or unaccounted for in terms of aid to Iraq. Did the general public know that we were providing this money…and more…to make up for the mess that we helped to create?

Bill Maher Tells Republican Crackers To Get Off Of Obama’s Ass

On his HBO show Real Time Bill Maher posed the question to Republicans, “How many Muslims does a black guy have to kill in one weekend before crackers climb down off his ass?”

Bill Maher opened up with, “Now that it’s become clear that the Republicans, the fiscally conservative strong on defense party, are neither fiscally conservative nor strong on defense, they have to tell us what exactly it is they’re good at. It’s not defense. 9/11happened on your watch, and you retaliated by invading the wrong country, and you lost a 10 year game of hide and seek with Osama Bin Laden, and you’re responsible for running up most of the debt, which more than anything makes us weak.”

Maher continued, “You’re supposed to be the party with the killer instinct, but it was a Democrat who put a bomb in Gadhafi’s bedroom, and a bullet in Bin Laden’s eye like Moe Green. Raising the question: how many Muslims does a black guy have to kill in one weekend before crackers climb down off his ass? Let’s look at some facts. Now for you Fox News viewers, feel free to turn down the sound until the flashing facts light at the bottom of your screen disappears.”

He then rolled out the facts, “When Bill Clinton left office in 2001, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that by the end of the decade we would have paid off the entire debt and had $2 trillion surplus. Instead we have a ten and a half trillion dollar public debt and the difference in those two numbers is mostly because Republicans put tax cuts for the rich, free drugs for the elderly, and two wars on the layaway plan, and then bailed on the check… so much for fiscal responsibility.”

Bill Maher then destroyed the idea that Republicans are strong in national security, “But hey, at least they still had the defense thing right? The public still believed Republicans were tougher when it came to hunting down dark skinned foreigners with funny sounding names. But Bush had 7 years to get Osama, he didn’t. He got Wesley Snipes. Only 6 months after 9/11, Bush said he didn’t spend that much time on Bin Laden… that he was no longer concerned about him. Just as he wasn’t before 9/11 when he blew off that mysterious inscrutable memo titled “Bin Laden determined to attack inside the United States.” In under a year Bush went from “who gives a shit,” to “wanted dead or alive,” and then back to “who gives a shit.”

After calling out the Republicans for criticizing Obama during the 2008 campaign for saying that he would go into Pakistan to get Bin Laden, Maher asked Republicans, “Why can’t you just admit that Barack Obama is one efficient, steely nerved, multitasking, black ninja gansta president? In one week he produced his birth certificate, comforted disaster victims, swung by Florida to say hey to Gabby Giffords, did stand up at the Correspondents’ Dinner, and then personally repelled into in Bin Laden’s lair and put a Chinese star though his throat without waking up any of his 13 wives. That’s how it went down, I saw it on MSNBC.”

The truth is that the 30% of America that Bill Maher mentioned will never support Obama no matter what he does. Unlike Democrats, who did rally behind President Bush after 9/11, many Republicans can only view the Obama presidency with bitter jaundiced eyes that are only capable of seeing all the vast conspiracies that explain why they were not able to keep the presidency, which they believe they are entitled to.

Maher had it right. Obama had an incredible week last week, but within 48 hours the right was back hard at work trying to delegitimize his accomplishments, while at the same time taking credit for themselves. What is absolutely eating the Obama haters up inside right now is that he got Bin Laden. Since 9/11 Republicans have treated the issue of national security as their birthright, but Obama showed them what a real commitment to keeping America secure looks like.

Barack Obama is one bad ass gangsta president. He is everything Republicans wish they were, but don’t have the guts to be.

Notes from the Old Noank Jail

To our Friends and Fellow Groton Citizens…….

As we approach the Final Hours prior to the Groton Referendum, the following commentary by former RTM member Genevieve Cerf is very appropriate. Once again, it becomes obvious that the Phase II project in its present form is not acceptable. We need to find a better, less expensive way, to deal with our educational needs.

If you agree, it is critically important that you (a) VOTE NO for Phase II on Monday, May 2nd and (b) that you notify your friends and neighbors who might still be “sitting on the fence” about this issue.

Here is Gen’s message for everyone:

“Subject: The real total cost to the taxpayers of Phase II is $104,544,000 — Who forgot to add the cost of debt service?

My calculation of the total net cost of Phase II to the taxpayer is at best $104,544,000 including debt service.

From any mortgage amortization web site, if you input the numbers from the “Explanatory Text” on the Town of Groton web site — a principal amount of about $66 million borrowed at 5% interest over 20 years — the total amount of interest which has to be paid over the period of the bond is $38,544,000. So if we add this to the $66 million principal of the bond, our total cost is $104,544,000.
It is hard to believe that when you borrow something for 20 years at 5% interest, the total interest you pay is over 50% of your loan amount, but there it is. This is why banks love lending us money and get very rich doing it… and probably why we go on fixating on the low 5% interest rates we get these days and not on the total we’ll pay over the years. We are in similar denial about our mortgage and credit card debts by the way…
My conclusion is that the $60 million in savings we are promised over the next 25 years pales in comparison to this number. We are a town of only about 10,000 properties and 40,000 people. It is mind-boggling that while we are still only a few years into paying for Phase I and the Senior Center, we can even be considering adding another $104,544,000 to our tax burden.
Further, the $60 million in savings from the Education Budget is not a true savings on the overall Town Budget. For almost all the schools which are planned to be closed, the Town has plans to move something new in there, which means our maintenance costs for those buildings and activities will continue to grow.
I am as much in favor of infrastructure and education improvements as anyone else, but common sense should prevail. We simply can’t afford this right now.
If you divide 104,000,000 (total real Phase II bill, including debt service by 20 years, we have to pay about $5 million a year for the next 20 years…. to be shared by 10,000 properties so that’s an average of $500 each for 20 years.

Only about 5% of the residential properties in Groton are valued over $300K-$500K, so a lot more of that has to be paid by people who now think most of that bill will go to taxpayers with higher assessments.”

In conclusion. Genevieve’s commentary above speaks for itself, and we are grateful to her for taking the time to bring this our attention in such a highlighted fashion.

Vote NO for PHASE II Vote YES for THAMES STREET

Thank you all for your time for the past few days. See you at the Polls on Monday

Ed Johnson, at the Old Noank Jail