Terry Cowgill

Shut Him Down?

Fascinating discussion on Gene Burns yesterday about a story in USA today on a pedophile with a website. There are probably millions of them, you say? As you saw if you clicked on the above link and read the story, this one is different.

The story of Jack McClellan is one that causes most reasonable people to shake their heads in disbelief. On his website, McClellan “has been living out his fantasies” by offering “a virtual how-to manual for pedophiles.” Shut him down, lock him up and throw away the key, you say?

There’s just one problem. Unless McClellan physically acts on his fantasies, he’s not breaking the law. Which raises an important question: should it be against the law to do what McClellan did? How would you craft a law that addresses guys like McClellan but also safeguards our free speech rights?

What makes me think the guy is on the level about not physically acting out his sick fantasies is that, for obvious reasons, most pedophiles operate below the radar. McClellan is practically shouting from the rooftops.

Still, I wouldn’t want this character (or one of his followers) anywhere near my daughter. All I can say is thank goodness for the laws we do have on the books, since McClellan says they’re the only measures that prevent him from actually molesting children.

P.S. Note the irony that after the Santa Monica Police publicized McClellan’s photograph, he threatened to sue them. This from a guy who posted images of innocent young girls on his website. You can’t make this stuff up.

Would You Shop Here?

Dan Shaw reports on a “delicious rumor” in Falls Village. And, for once, there is some FV buzz out there that has nothing to do with the Children’s Theater Company or the upheaval at Lee Kellogg School.

This Week’s Most Interesting Stories

There are some noteworthy (and must-read) stories in this week’s Lakeville Journal. The lead story was a follow-up news piece I wrote on the town of Salisbury signing an option to purchase the Lee property as a possible transfer station. Jim Britt made some very interesting comments (some that I had not considered) in the previous post about the deal.

Cynthia Hochswender and I co-wrote the story on the missing 91-year-old Salisbury man. At this writing on Thursday afternoon, I have heard nothing more about whether they have located Tom Drew or whether they have called off the search altogether.

Karen Bartomioli has an informative update on the Yale Farm golf course deal proposed by Roland Betts, the developer of the Chelsea Piers and GWB’s old frat buddy from Yale. Cynthia also wrote a terrific piece on the oft-breached fence on that dangerous curve coming down from Lincoln City Road into downtown Lakeville [also see the related editorial].

But the star this week had to be young Jordan Cooke, who penned a very strong piece on Sharon Valley and its rather colorful history. I urge not only local history buffs to read it, but anyone who has passed through that valley (as I have often) and has wondered about that tavern, for example.

P.S. Click here and scroll down to listen to the podcast of my appearance this morning on Marshall & Mike. And look for a written comment left by someone identifying him/herself as a legal assistant. The commenter attempted to clarify the remarks that were made regarding the Falls Village Children’s Theater Company and its request to be forgiven for paying a portion of the taxes owed on the Emerson building. And click here to read my story. Now I must confess the whole thing has me somewhat confused.

Breaking News

Sorry about the inability to blog tonight on the CNN-YouTube Democratic presidential candidates’ debate. With Biden talking about how diplomacy won’t work in Darfur and how we need to go in militarily, then in the next breath saying we need to get out of Iraq, the Dems would make a tempting target for my barbs. But there is some local breaking news to report tonight.

At a meeting of the Luke-Fitting Committee late this afternoon, the committee went into executive session with the selectmen, engineers, the TRAC committee and (unbeknownst to Michael Flint and me) Mark Capecelatro, a lawyer for the Lee family.

When the news media were called back in, we were told that First Selectman Curtis Rand had signed a nine-month option (for $500) to purchase about 25 acres of the Lee property for $1.25 million for possible use as a transfer station. If the deal goes through, the Lees will donate almost 40 additional acres to the Salisbury Housing Trust for affordable housing.

Bear in mind that the town still has options to purchase the Luke-Fitting properties for use as a transfer station until the end of February 2008. Now the town has two pretty good “options” to consider in the next few months.

Continue reading Breaking News…

YouTube For Debaters

Ever wanted to ask a presidential candidate a question to his/her face? A relative handful of people will do that tonight — almost — during the CNN-YouTube Democratic candidates debate in Charleston, S.C, at 7 p.m. Click here for the Charleston paper’s preview.

Questioners have posted more than 2,000 video questions on YouTube. Some will be selected (click here to find out how) and shown to the candidates. On Scarborough this morning, Joe Klein said early word was that most of the queries were touch-feely and personal (e.g. “What are you going to do for my father’s Alzheimer’s?”) rather than focusing on the big and serious policy questions facing this nation.

And if the example questions on the YouTube promotional video above are any indication, we could be in for a long night. Could it be the YouTube generation is also the Me Generation? I hope not. If I can free myself up from family obligations, I’ll do some live blogging on the debate tonight.

Meet The New Boss …

Update 6 p.m. Sunday: One of my anonymous sources hit on an important point. Is the Times especially skittish about Murdoch because, like the WSJ, the NYT itself is essentially controlled by one family? The NYT public editor addresses that very issue today.

* * * * * * * *

Would you want this man as your new boss? Evidently, reporters and editors at the New York Times do not.

The Times’ coverage of the possible takeover of Dow Jones by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has been exhaustive and even defensive. But this piece on Thursday hit a new low. It is a caricature of agenda-driven, anonymously-sourced reporting.

Perhaps I’m imagining things, but the piece appears heavily tilted toward the hyperventilating, as when one of the few WSJ journalists quoted on-the-record (a union boss, incidentally) said of his colleagues, “I think they understand that if Murdoch prevails, it’s the end of The [Wall Street] Journal as we know it.”

Isn’t that what people said when Murdoch was acquiring The Times of London and its sister, The Sunday Times? Those publications are still highly regarded — a fact conveniently ignored by the NTY reporter. Just because Murdoch is buying a media outlet doesn’t mean he will turn it into the Fox News Channel (which, btw, now has a rival in agenda-driven journalism in the NYT). In fact, it’s looking more and more like Murdoch wants the WSJ to help him brand the new financial news cable channel he’s planning.

The NYT piece quoted a WSJ journalist (anonymously, of course) as saying The Journal no doubt “would follow the lead of The Sun, one of Mr. Murdoch’s British tabloids, which prints pictures of topless women on its third page.” Come now, is it really necessary to print flippant comments from people who don’t even have the guts to go on-the-record?

Continue reading Meet The New Boss ……

Fenway Dreams

As I rediscovered Wednesday, there’s no place to see a major league game quite like Fenway Park. I say “rediscovered” because I fell in love with the place the first time I went there in 1974.

Jake and I were boarding school students then. One sunny Sunday in May (and in total violation of school rules) we stole away from the grim Gothic campus. Clad in sunglasses and baseball caps, we walked a couple of miles down to Route 9 and got on a Gray Lines bus that took us to the since-torn-down Continental Trailways station, wedged (as I recall) between the Boston Commons and the Combat Zone.

Since were on a tight budget (too tight even for a 25-cent subway ride), we simply walked down Boylston Street, past Copley Square and the Prudential Center all the way to Fenway. After what seemed like an hour, we finally strode down Landsdowne Street to the entrance of the bleacher seats (tight budgets again), where we stood in a short line and bought tickets at about $5 (if memory serves).

The bleachers were already filling up an hour and a half before the game. There appeared to be some partying types up near the top, so that’s where we naturally gravitated. There we spotted a couple of guys leaning over the top of the bleacher wall and peering down into Landsdowne Street (you could actually do that back then without raising eyebrows).

Continue reading Fenway Dreams…

Spandex Indignation

There will be no blogging here until perhaps Friday, as I am headed to Boston this morning with my son to see the Bosox play the Royals tonight at Fenway. The weather forecast doesn’t look good for Roger’s 11th birthday, but I guess baseball and the threat of rain go hand-in-hand.

But before I take leave of my senses, I wanted to briefly address the controversy surrounding Jordan Cooke’s columns on cycling. In case you missed it, Jordan, our talented young sports reporter, wrote a satirical column on cyclists last month that drew some indignant responses, including letters to the editor (which, alas, we do not post online) last week and this.

I must say I was amazed at the reaction among cyclists who saw Jordan’s column as an assault on their way of life. Jordan wrote a clever and amusing column responding to the first letter and then was attacked as “petty” and “small-minded” in a subsequent letter that will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

I must also say that even as a recreational cyclist myself, I share Jordan’s annoyance with cyclists who “clog the road.” When I am cycling, for example, I do everything I can to stay as far to the side of the road as I can so as not to disrupt traffic. This is not because I am particularly conscientious (I am not, actually), but rather it’s an unadulterated act of self-preservation. Common sense tells me the farther out in the road I travel, the greater my chances of getting run over. Why don’t more cyclists understand this?

When I see a pair of cyclists riding down a state highway side-by-side, I shake my head in disbelief, especially when after I pass them the pedaling duo looks at me as if I am intruding on their fun.

If the reax to Jordan’s column is any indication, cyclists must be a thin-skinned bunch. See you Friday …

Doing Somersaults

This is too funny. One flip-flopper from the Bay Sate accusing another of actually being in his league. Kerry is trying to hit Mitt’s soft spot, and he is right that Mitt has changed his mind on some key issues. But why would Kerry even go there?

The explanation of one of Mitt’s flaks is priceless:

“This is a textbook case of Freudian projection,” Eric Fehrnstrom said. “John Kerry is projecting his own undesirable traits onto other people. It’s a mild form of personality disorder. Usually, it’s not a cause for concern unless it shows up in a U.S. senator.”

Who knows if Fehrnstrom is right, but it certainly is a clever retort. In fact, I’d want this guy working for me. Kerry looks even more foolish than the guy he is attacking. First he was for the war then he was against it. Then he was for NCLB, then he was against it. First he was for the Patriot Act, then he was against it. And the same for the death penalty for terrorists.

Sort of takes your breath away, doesn’t it? What prompted this idiotic outburst?

Paulie’s Walnuts

There is something endearing about Michael Flint’s man, Ron Paul. But who’d ’a thunk he’d have more cash on hand than seven other presidential candidates combined (or that he’d have more cash on-hand at this point than McCain?). Who are all these people opening their wallets?