| Index | ||
By Anne Saita, Standard-Times staff writer
LAKEVILLE -- So much for sleepy communities.
The first Old Colony Railroad train left the Lakeville-Middleboro station at 5:25 yesterday morning, carrying about 100 people to Boston -- some of whom had beaten even the 5 a.m. MBTA welcoming crew to the platform.
And the people just kept coming, almost by the minute, so that by the time the next train pulled in 20 minutes later, the 432-space, rain-soaked parking lot was already two-thirds full.
NEW BEDFORD -- The Tierney administration promised in writing not to prosecute a former Building Department employee accused of stealing $6,500 from the city, District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr. said yesterday.
Mr. Walsh called the agreement "inappropriate" and said in a letter to the mayor that he will prosecute in that case, as well as in a second case involving a former Treasurer's Office employee suspected of taking $22,199.
By David Rising, Standard-Times staff writer
WAREHAM -- Lynn Cully, who operates an animal shelter from her West Wareham home is proposing a novel solution to cut down on the number of unwanted pets.
She would like to establish breeder's licenses for any pet owner who allow their animal to breed.
The license requirement would cut down on the number of people who breed their animals and funds from the license fees could be used to provide neutering clinics for those who can not afford it.
ACUSHNET -- While expressing much displeasure at the way the Board of Public Works does its job, voters at last night's special town meeting decided to keep their right to select -- or oust -- those members from the ballot box.
The article, if passed, would have changed the way members served, from its current, elected status to appointment by the Board of Selectmen.
Voters will return Wednesday to finish their business; 26 of the warrant's 37 articles were disposed of last night.
By Ric Oliveira, Standard-Times staff writer
FALL RIVER -- The proposed high stakes bingo hall is an "awesome economic engine" or a threat to the "soul of the community," proponents and opponents said last night.
Both views were expressed during a four-hour meeting before the City Council.
The second round of the debate continues tonight when the council resumes its public hearing on the proposal by the Wampanoag tribe to open a 2,500 seat bingo hall at the former municipal airport.
WESTPORT -- A master plan should focus on issues the town expects to face in the future and the top priority should be protecting the water supply.
That's the word of Gary Guimond, a planner with the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District. Mr. Guimond met with members of the Strategic Growth Committee yesterday to offer his expertise on how to get ideas in a master plan implemented at town meeting.'
By Joe Beaird, Standard-Times staff writer
DARTMOUTH -- As a girl at Cushman School, Heidi Silva Brooks was sent, terrified, to the principal's office after a playground scuffle. Now she goes to the same office every day. But she's not in trouble -- she's the principal.
Mrs. Brooks arrives at the Dartmouth Street elementary school after four years as a Potter School assistant principal and 10 years as a teacher in the district.
MEDAN, Indonesia -- The pilot said "right." The control tower said "left." Seconds before an Indonesian jetliner crashed into a jungle, killing all 234 aboard in the country's worst air crash, it appeared no one knew which way the plane was supposed to turn.
An air traffic controller also momentarily confused two planes as he gave instructions for a turn, according to a transcript of the plane's final radio conversation obtained yesterday. The controller was handling two other flights at the same time -- one arriving and one departing from the two-runway airport.
NEW YORK -- Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed yesterday to resume negotiations, ending a six-month stalemate and stopping what Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called "a downward spiral" in the Mideast.
Albright, who announced the agreement after meeting with both sides here, called it "a medium step" toward peace in the region. The months since the last talks were broken off were marked by violence and recrimination.
TORONTO -- Widely heralded new AIDS treatments that seemed to stop the virus' advance and revive patients from near death are now beginning to fail in about half of all those treated, doctors said yesterday.
The disappointing reports suggest the tough virus is coming back after being knocked briefly into submission, just as many experts feared it would.
DENVER -- With a promise from the judge that he is starting with a "clear page," Oklahoma City bombing defendant Terry Nichols went on trial yesterday in the same courtroom where Timothy McVeigh was convicted and sentenced to die.
Nichols, 42, smiled and waved to his mother in the front row as he was escorted into the courtroom where the process began to select 12 jurors and six alternates.
By The Cape Cod Times
If what police say is true, and Peter Contos murdered his girlfriend and two children, he was a denizen of three separate worlds.
In one, he was an accomplished and respected serviceman, with a young wife and a promising career.
In the second, he was the nice small-town boy who grew up to have two little boys of his own, with a woman to whom he was not married.
In the third, he was a cold-blooded killer who murdered the mother of his children, then killed them and stuffed their small bodies in a backpack, which was in turn stuffed into a locker at Otis Air Base in Bourne.
By Rachel G. Thomas, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD -- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Patricia McGovern said the key to success on the campaign trail and in the corner office is "leadership, follow-up, and not over-promising."
And the key to success for long-suffering cities such as New Bedford is for its leaders and residents to agree on a short list of goals, and virtually push them all the way to Boston.
BUZZARDS BAY -- For over a year the complaints of customers who use MCI's relay service for the disabled have largely fallen on deaf ears.
Last night the state Department of Public Utilities gave them a hearing.
The service is required under the American with Disabilities Act. It provides a telephone connection between standard phone customers and people who are deaf, hard of hearing or those with severe speech impediments.
BOSTON -- Attorney General Scott Harshbarger has unveiled another campaign-spending proposal, the second in his developing campaign for governor.
Under the terms of the bill, filed yesterday on his behalf by Rep. Steve Angelo, D-Saugus, candidates would be limited to spending $4.5 million on their campaigns next year -- the same as a proposal Harshbarger made in August.
BOSTON -- The New England Patriots better show some sign of wanting to stay in the state before legislative good will toward the team evaporates, a key legislative leader said yesterday.
Hearings on proposed legislation will begin next Monday.
Sen. William Keating, D-Sharon, whose district includes Foxboro, said he believes many of his legislative colleagues favor a state proposal to keep the team where it is. But, he said, lawmakers and the public are going to begin questioning the Patriots' commitment.
WASHINGTON -- The rich got richer, the poor got poorer and the giant middle class did a bit better than treading water last year, according to the Census Bureau.
In a blizzard of figures yesterday, the bureau also said:
NEW YORK -- Stocks rose yesterday, with smaller-company shares resuming their record-setting march, as investors took an optimistic posture before today's Federal Reserve meeting and some key economic reports due later in the week.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 69.25 to 7991.43. The barometer of 30 blue-chip companies, which hasn't closed above 8000 since Aug. 20, started the day with a 28-point deficit, but quickly turned higher.
WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration hardened its opposition yesterday to a Republican-pushed plan to revamp the embattled IRS, saying the proposal was "a recipe for conflicts of interest, less accountability and less trust."
House Speaker Newt Gingrich quickly called on President Clinton to repudiate the statement.
If not, Gingrich told Clinton in a letter, "you will have allied yourself with the IRS' bureaucratic machine and turned your back on the millions of Americans who have been pulled through its gears."
By Frances D'Emilio, Associated Press writer
TARQUINIA, Italy -- He was born in this land of Etruscan tombs and grew up raiding graves. Now the man who irritated archaeologists for decades has recreated the world of the ancients in a kind of Disneyland of the dead.
By all accounts, Omero Bordo is a strange character.
Signs of approaching winter are popping up all over:
Squirrels are storing nuts, trees are shedding leaves, beavers are building dams and homeowners are washing storm windows.
Instinct drives the squirrels, trees and beavers to get their fall chores done, but Mother Nature may not remind you when it's time to inspect your fireplace.
By Martha Irvine, Associated Press writer
Most computer users would be lost without their mice, but how many have a rat to help them out?
Meet Rattie, a 7-inch albino rodent whose penchant for cat food and Gummi Bears has led her on a quest to help wire California schools for the computer age.
"She runs. She jumps. You name it," said Dr. Judy Reavis, a physician and computer executive who trained Rattie to make her way through walls and crawl spaces, dragging a string used to pull computer wire.
Britons have been celebrating Halloween and Candlemas for more than 5,000 years, according to archaeological research at the giant chambered cairn of Maeshowe in Orkney, the islands off the north east of Scotland.
Euan Mackie, of Glasgow University's Hunterian Museum, told the Orkney Science Festival last month: "When we see children dressing up, making turnip or pumpkin lanterns, and knocking on neighbors' doors for Halloween, we are witnessing a tradition that stretches back more than 5,000 years. They are doing what neolithic children might have done."
By Robert J. Barcellos, Standard-Times staff writer
Jews around the world begin the observance of the High Holy Days at sundown Wednesday with the start of the two-day celebration of Rosh Hashanah, welcoming in a new year -- 5758 -- in the Hebrew calendar.
Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of a 10-day penitential period that culminates in Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the calendar, on Oct. 10.
DENVER -- The Denver Broncos got a swift kick Monday after learning that steady place-kicker Jason Elam might miss the battle of unbeaten teams Monday night between Denver and New England.
Elam, selected to the Pro Bowl in 1995, re-injured his right hip flexor and strained his groin Sunday on an extra point and the ensuing kickoff after Denver's first touchdown in a 29-21 victory over Atlanta.
Johnny Montantes came to Las Vegas still carrying the slim hope he might finally become a contender. He ended up losing his life for a $2,000 payday in the main event he so eagerly sought. What was supposed to be the start of a renewed career for the 28-year-old journeyman boxer turned instead to tragedy when he died Sunday after being knocked out in the sixth round of a fight two days earlier with James Crayton.
FOXBORO -- The stadium lights were shining. The speakers were blaring. Pete Carroll wanted to give his players an idea of what they'll face in front of Denver's noisy fans next Monday night.
Too bad he couldn't thin the air a little bit, too.
After their bye week, the New England Patriots held a rare night practice Monday for the matchup of the AFC's only two unbeaten teams in the high altitude of Mile High Stadium.
By Jonathan Comey, Standard-Times staff writer
Well, thank goodness that's over.
People in these parts don't take long to bury their dead, and the 1997 Red Sox season has already been entombed in New England's sports cemetery, right next to the most recent editions of the Bruins and Celtics.
This ill-fated set of 162 games added up to a Red Sox season that will leave few lingering memories.
It was mediocre at best, disastrous at worst. Although Nomar Garciaparra's Rookie of the Year performance got its share of attention, it was the off-the-field problems that got most of the attention.
By Ben Walker, Associated Press writer
By all accounts, an extra round of baseball playoffs sure sounded like a good idea. More October excitement, more of the tight, tense action that fans wait all season to see.
Only one problem: Except for a dramatic, five-gamer between the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees that first year in 1995, these opening-round series have been dullsville.
Four of the eight best-of-5 sets have been sweeps. Three others have been over in four games.
One thing to keep foremost in mind as the newly reopened Old Colony commuter railroad line reconnects this region with Boston is that the train runs in both directions. It not only will have people from Lakeville, Middleboro and surrounding towns looking forward to an easier commute into Greater Boston, it will turn many eyes in Greater Boston toward Southeastern Massachusetts. And if urban growth follows the path of least resistance -- meaning lower costs, high quality of living, good schools, and so on -- the Old Colony line will quickly become a pipeline of new development. Regional planners are predicting exponential growth not just along the rail line, but for all of Bristol and Plymouth counties. They say as many as 200,000 people may move in during the next two decades, which is enough to give any local planner a case of the jitters.
WASHINGTON A friend recently related how several years ago he had received an audit notice from the Internal Revenue Service. Like most of us under these circumstances, he panicked, rushing to the phone to plead with his accountant to come to his rescue. After the accountant assured him he would not have to spend the rest of his life or, for that matter even five minutes, behind bars, he gave my friend this scenario of what would happen.
When it comes to sexual relations between the sexes, it's become dogma that "when a woman says 'no' she means 'no.' " It's a "truism" used by feminists and mainstream commentators alike when discussing everything from sexual assault and harassment cases to dating in the '90s. Most recently, this phrase has been repeatedly uttered by legal and other analysts examining the ugly details surrounding the Marv Albert sexual assault trial, even by those criticizing the woman involved on other issues.
Attorney General Janet Reno isn't so much being forced finally to police the integrity of the political system, as Republicans are putting it about, as she is being cornered into helping a partisan coup. Let's not be naïve. The real issue here, as Reno edges toward calling for an independent counsel, isn't law. It's politics.
The statute President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore are suspected of breaking bars political fund-raising on government property. It was enacted in 1883 to stop government bosses and party bag men from leaning on federal employees for contributions.
Of all the superficial stuff that's important in Hollywood, hair is right up on top -- and that goes for the guys, too. On TV, good-looking hair can become a star in its own right. Think of Kookie's comb-back on "77 Sunset Strip"; Fonzie's ducktail on "Happy Days"; Sully's wolf mane on "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman."
Since hair can be the root (er, route) to success, I was pretty sure TV actors wouldn't mind talking about it. But would they, I wondered, let a complete stranger get up close and personal with their bald spots and dreadlocks, their waves and spikes and split ends? In other words, would they let me touch their hair?
NEW YORK -- Roy Lichtenstein, a pioneer of the pop art movement whose instantly recognizable images quoted everything from the comics to Picasso, died yesterday. He was 73.
Lichtenstein died at New York University Medical Center, said Morgan Spangle, director of the Leo Castelli Gallery, which has represented Lichtenstein since 1962. Lichenstein had been hospitalized for several weeks with an undisclosed illness and died of pneumonia with complications, said Aryn Lieberman, a spokeswoman for the gallery.
The fifth-season premiere of "NYPD Blue" (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14) finds Simone and Sipowicz having to concoct a story to clear their names and find Salvo's real killer. Dennis Franz (Sipowicz) shows why he's been honored yet again with an Emmy for Best Actor.
Meanwhile, Det. Jill Kirkendall (Andrea Thompson) finds a romantic way to uncover key information about the case. The makers of "NYPD Blue" still feel that they must "push the envelope" with soapy bathtub love scenes and other bits of cheesy exploitation.
By Patricia O'Connor, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD -- Soon, they'll hit, those awful aches and that strength-sapping fever.
For many people, influenza is just a miserable bug that'll leave them feeling crummy for a few days, a week, or maybe even a little longer.
But for some, the flu can be deadly.
During the next few weeks, dozens of flu clinics will be held throughout the region. Area practitioners say it's a good idea for just about everybody, not only those in the high-risk categories, to receive a flu shot.
NEW BEDFORD -- SouthCoast residents need to kick the habit, drop the pounds and get off the couch.
These are some of the findings of the 1997 Community Health Assessment funded by Southcoast Hospitals Group, unveiled this month at the annual meeting of the Greater New Bedford Community Health Network, made up of the region's health care providers.
By Natalie White, Standard-Times staff writer
FALL RIVER -- Trevor Woodward of Fall River suffers from asthma -- and no health insurance.
His mother, Patricia Woodward, a self-employed clothes designer, is one of the working poor whose income often is too high to get them into government-sponsored programs but too low to afford private insurance.
| -Top- | -Home- | -Top Stories- | -Headlines- | -Staff- |  |