Page 4 — THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Thursday, July 14, 2011
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Hitler’s talking dogs At this late date, when we believe we know absolutely everything about Adolf Hitler, could it be that he was even crazier than we thought? From Caligula to Nero to Qaddafi, dictators are often not just cruel and evil, but lunatics. It’s very rare to find a rational dictator. Absolute power deranges them and gives them delusions and fantasies. So we shouldn’t be surprised by news reports suggesting the Führer was batty beyond even Mel Brooks’s satire. First, an MI5 document was declassified in London in April, revealing megalomaniacal schemes for Nazis to rise again if they lost the war by scattering sleeper agents around the world; and by killing Allied officers with poison infused in sausages, chocolate, Nescafé coffee, cigarettes, schnapps and Bayer aspirin. German agents said they ––––– were instructed to first offer The New York Allied targets a cigarette Times treated by Nazi scientists to give the smoker a headache, then finish the job with a poison aspirin that would kill within 10 minutes. Secret weapons included a pellet that would emit a fatal vapor when heated by cigarette ash; poison for books, desks and door handles; a tablet of exploding powder that would activate when
Maureen Dowd
see DOWD page 5
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Land of confusion Something bothered me about the City Council meeting a couple of weeks ago. This won’t be a surprise to the frequent readers of this column, as something usually does. Tiny little details get overlooked in the grand scheme of things. In the rush to get the proposed mega-project at Thompson’s Point started, a few other items were given the quick “bum’s rush” in council chambers. One item particularly bothered me, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. SPT Club had applied for a liquor license, planning to enter the spot vacated by the infamous “Cactus Club.” All the procedures were followed as far as notices and such, but it finally occurred to me what was bugging me. Portland still has a moratorium on new liquor licenses. At least, there is one on the books. Years back, in an effort to “calm” the situation in the Old Port, the council passed Section 15-31 of city code. Dealing with liquor licenses, it states that the city “shall not accept an application” for any type of business located on the premises that are the same ... for a period of 180 days.” So, if you closed your club, or
Bob Higgins ––––– Daily Sun Columnist your license was denied, someone else couldn’t just jump right in and open a bar in the same spot. But that looked to me like what happened. Oops. City Communications Director Nicole Clegg straightened me out a bit. “The (Cactus Club) license was denied earlier in the year, but the license was under appeal. What the council needed was to see a purchase and sale agreement, and that was the reason for the SPT club license approval.” But since that meeting two weeks ago, the issue has changed. Clegg stated, “I was told this week that the deal had fallen apart, and that David Cram had pulled his license application. Now, the 180-day part of the ordinance would be in effect, since Tom Manning (Cactus Club owner) had surrendered the license to the Cactus Club.” In a Wednesday afternoon phone call with Cram, this was news to him. “I have not pulled
my application,” he said. “My initial deal with the previous owner didn’t work out, but I am dealing with the landlord to sign a lease to get into that location.” He went on to say that “I’ve spoken with Joe Soley, and he is interested in helping me get into that location.” There is a sign on the former location of the club, advertising it for lease. I spoke with Steve Bauman at Cardente Real Estate, who confirmed that there was not a current lease for the club. “I am fully aware of the 180-day provision. We have had several other retail establishments express an interest in that location, some quite promising,” he said. If you cast your nose to the air, you can quite plainly catch the whiff of lawyers. If the 180-day provision does go into effect, it is unlikely that any suds-selling establishment will be able to get into that location until at least Jan. 1. According to Clegg, “The club there officially closed at the end of June, so that would put the date six months out from that.” So, let’s take a paragraph or two and sum it all up. In an infectious zeal to rid itself of a troublesee HIGGINS page 5