PRIMETIME LIVING YOUR BEST IN THE PRIME OF YOUR LIFE
THIS MONTH:
Let’s Eat!
MONTHLY SECTION STARTS ON PAGE 23 R H O D Y B E AT. C O M
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020
4 Sections
with Supplements
2 8 Pa ge s
$1.00
Vo l. 69 No. 14
Report on closed landfill questioned by residents trucks, disgorging their chemical contents. “I always say that’s where Jimmy Hoffa is,” Coletta says of the former 36-acre Truk-Away Landfill at the end of Industrial Drive. The landfill operated from 1970 to 1978. It was closed when the state Department of Transportation, which then operated Green Airport, deemed it a hazard to aircraft because of the seagulls it attracted. The state acquired the property. Hoffa’s remains weren’t found on the former landfill when GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc. of Providence conducted the most recent
By JOHN HOWELL It dates back more than 40 years, but Larry Coletta remembers the trucks from New Jersey as if it was yesterday. They would arrive in the evening or under the cover of night. “They were over there. There was some kind of a pond back there,” he says, pointing to a grassy area some 500 feet away from the trees and shrubs reaching up from the embankment in back of his house on Hamilton Avenue. After backing up, drivers would open the valves on the tanker
study of the site for the Department of Environmental Management. Not to Coletta’s surprise, the report that was recently released details the detection of a wide range of chemicals, metals and pesticides in addition to solid waste. However, with few exceptions – those being arsenic, chlorobenzene, naphthalene, dichlorobenzene and some other pesticides – the levels of contaminants in the ground and groundwater are at or below regulatory levels, according to the report.
LANDFILL - PAGE 10
SURVEYING THE SITE: Former mayor Eugene McCaffrey, left, and former director of public works Robert Knox visited the landfill in 1975 in response to the complaints of neighbors. The landfill continued operating for another two years before being bought and closed down by the state. (Photo courtesy of Larry Coletta)
Sewer project still in limbo By JOHN HOWELL In the face of arguments that it is too costly and would force some people out of their homes, Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladouceur reaffirmed Monday his commitment to bring sewers to the residents of Riverview, Longmeadow, Highland Beach and Bayside – although, at this point, the decision is up to the mayor, not him or the City Council. Yet the issue was before the council’s Finance Committee for a second time this month. Prior to the Sept. 9 council
On course to a career More than 400 Warwick Area Career and Technical Center students are back in class on a full-time, in-person basis. Half the students report in the morning while the other half attends in the afternoon four days out of the week. On Mondays they do their academics on line. Of the center’s enrollment, 25 students have chosen to do distance learning. With the exception of special education students, who are attending in-person classes at Veterans Middle School and kindergarteners who will be attending in-person classes at Vets, Warwick students are doing distance learning. The School Committee named Tim Kane, pictured outside the center, center director earlier this month. He last served as assistant principal at Toll Gate High School and succeeds William McCaffrey, who was named the department’s director of secondary education. (Warwick Beacon photos)
meeting, the Warwick Sewer Authority signed a $17.8 million contract with D’Ambra Construction to do the job. Ladouceur’s resolution endorsing the project was on the docket. Ladouceur, chair of the Finance Committee, was taking public comment when the council solicitor ruled the meeting was in violation of the public meetings law because the public could not access the meeting via the telephone numbers advertised. The meeting was rescheduled for Sept.
BAYSIDE - PAGE 8
College outbreaks spur uptick By DANIEL KITTREDGE Outbreaks at Providence College and the University of Rhode Island have driven a recent uptick in the state’s COVID-19 numbers, Gov. Gina Raimondo said Wednesday, while the majority of cases identified within Rhode Is-
land’s K-12 community during the first week of school occurred among distance learners and teachers. Regarding the nearly 200 combined cases identified at PC and URI, the governor said: “Without those cases, our
COVID - PAGE 8
Swimmers want in, Solomon not ready for pool By JOHN HOWELL
THE NIGHT OF JUNE 9, 1772: “The Burning of the Gaspee” as depicted by Charles DeWolf Brownell, 1892. (Courtesy RI Historical Society)
248 years later, an earnest hunt for the Gaspee By JOHN HOWELL With the change of a single letter – a T to a W – marine archeologist Dr. Kathleen Abbass transitioned what has been both an exercise and research project into a search of
major significance to the state. On Sept. 15, Abbass addressed her group of seasoned volunteers carefully distanced at Mensa Park in Gaspee overlooking the Providence River
GASPEE - PAGE 10
MIDDLE
- INDEX Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Police Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Rhody Life . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
9147400007
SCHOOL
SPORTS IN DOUBT
As high school sports get set to begin this week, middle school sports are on hold for the fall and possibly beyond. See story on page 11.
BETTER
8
Michael Thaler and some of the many friends he’s made over the years as a swimmer were outside McDermott Pool Tuesday afternoon in a demonstration of unity to get back into the water. That doesn’t look like it is going to happen soon. For starters, the pool has been drained for routine maintenance – painting and caulking – and given the uncertainty caused by the pandemic there’s no need to keep it filled and chlorinated if it’s closed, according to the mayor’s office. The pool closed in March with the COVID shutdown. It continued to operate until now although closed. But even if filled with sparkling clear water, Mayor Joseph Solomon has reservations about reopening it because of COVID. He said Tuesday he is not going to feel comfortable until there’s a green light from the CDC and the Department of Health. Nonetheless, area public pools have reopened, including that at the Kent County YMCA. “I’m not willing to gamble with one person’s health,” Solomon said in a telephone interview. Further-
THAN BEING HOME
At right, Ziad Kassab and Kat Kenney, director at the Boys & Girls Clubs childcare program at Oakland Beach chat as students have no difficulty in keeping themselves busy. Page 9 4
ANXIOUS TO SWIM: Rich Cohen, Ken Hird, Mike Thaler, Alice Pate, Jerry Jarbeau and Rita Laferriere gathered outside McDermott Pool Tuesday in a show of support to reopen the pool. (Warwick Beacon photo) more, he pointed out, “If there is one outbreak, they’ll be pointing the finger at me.” Thaler is frustrated not to get any answers from City Hall. He had a log of calls that included talks with people in the mayor’s office and the prospect of a meeting with Solomon that never happened. Before COVID, Thaler arrived al-
most daily at the pool at 5:20 a.m. to be there when the doors unlocked at 5:30. He wasn’t alone. He said there were 12 in the group ranging in age from the mid-60s to early 90s. Some swam laps while others did aerobics. “The pool is really a heaven,” he
POOL - PAGE 7
NOTABLE
Quote “None of us are revolutionaries. We want to get back in the pool.”
- Mike Thaler talking about his efforts and that of his group to reopen McDermott Pool. Page 1