"She's very sick"

I'm so tired of hearing those words about my mother. People, I can see for myself that she's very sick. The thing is, as my sister points out on her blog, she's not ready to die (as in, pulling the plug on the dialysis).

For months now it has really disturbed, to say the least, me that there is really no place for my mom. If she were wealthy, we could afford quality care for her as she teeters on the brink.

Likewise if she were poor. MassHealth would provide for her care and there would  be little, if any, problems.

Sadly for us, my parents are solidly middle class folk. That means that  Michigan Blue Cross will pay for "rehab" but not nursing home "maintenance" care. Many people, I read, end up dying because they can no longer afford to live.

Even 20 or so years ago, she probably would have been allowed to slip away last January, when the renal failure was diagnosed. And don't even get me started on the cause of the renal failure. Just don't get me started.

None of us plans to ever be in his position ourselves. But who knows what our reality will be?

New health director

Yesterday I was in the basement of City Hall and noticed that the health dept. was all closed up. Like a vault.

Just now I read in today's Daily News that the Board of Health has hired a new director but that the public health nurse resigned last week.

In addition to a new health agent, the city will also be advertising for a new public health nurse after Melinda Gibbons resigned last week. Also, an independent contractor who was hired to do food inspections will be leaving at the end of the month, Blair said.

The new guy has his work cut out for him, especially with issues escalating at the landfill. I hope to talk to Mayor Holaday today about her meeting yesterday with the DEP. She told me yesterday that she got a pre-meeting fax from DEP and that she was quite happy with the "strong language" in the fax.

Ward 5 City Councillor Brian Derrivan on Monday stood up at the end of the City Council meeting and said he thought it was time for the city to think about hiring an environmental lawyer.

"The odors have been worse than they have been since the capping began," Derrivan said. "I find myself doing more of DEP work than the DEP is doing."

I'm happy to see Holaday take such immediate action about this issue. The city really needs to step up its enforcement, not just at the landfill but in other areas. I know money is tight, but there are some issues that if left to slide, already do or will have a serious impact on residents.

Hitler meme* on Pleasant St.

I was quite startled/stunned/surprised while walking down Pleasant St. a couple of hours ago to see large placards with that infamous photo of Pres. Obama with a Hitler moustache on them next to a table and set up right outside the post office.

When I came out of my meeting with the mayor, the two people running the table were packing up. The placards (actually A-frame signs) said something about LaRouche, so I'm assuming it's part of Lyndon LaRouche's efffort to sink the health care bill.

As I walked by the table, I said, without looking at the people, "Not nice."

The man replied, "Obama is going to hell!" (Actually, I think he said some word that included "Obama," but I didn't quite catch what he said.)

I shook my head. "Nope, not nice."

*What is a meme? This is what it is, according to Wikipedia:

A meme (pronounced /ˈmiːm/, rhyming with "cream") is a postulated unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. (The etymology of the term relates to the Greek word μιμητισμός (pronounced /mɪmɪtɪsmos/) for "something imitated".) Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes, in that they self-replicate and respond to selective pressures. Memeticists have not empirically proven the existence of discrete memes or their proposed mechanism (compare the status of Platonic forms or of concepts such as "ideals"), and memes (as distinct from ideas or cultural phenomena) do not form part of the consensus of mainstream social sciences.

As the revenue spins

As Larry McCavitt said at last night's City Council meeting, "I'm really at a loss."

Hey - you wonder where all the money the city rakes in goes, this is one of those places.

Donna Holaday, chair of the Council's Budget & Finance Committee and candidate for mayor, put forth an order that established a "Regional Health Services Revolving Fund relative to shared services."

This fund is at the discretion of the Director of Public Health (you know, the one that's leaving) and the mayor and was written so it could not exceed $30,000 (that was changed so it was only the amount Newburyport actually owes someone or some other town).

I'm no budget & finance person, but all I hear about in City Council meeting these days is this revolving fund and that revolving fund; and apparently if money comes in, it should go into this revolving fund because otherwise it can't go into the general fund this year because tax rate has been certified.

These revolving funds, as I said, are at the discretion of the dept. head and under the direction of the mayor. So next year we'd be hearing about how we had to spend the money in this revolving fund before June 30 because ... yada, yada, yada.

What I want to know is, where is the $10,122.17 in "Newburyport Net Gain" from the 60-day temporary shared services agreement that nobody knew about?

I'm requesting from Councillor Holaday the certified city budget for 2010.

Au revoir.

So it's true that our Director of Health Jack Morris may migrate up to Amesbury and be the head of its regional health dept. with Salisbury.

I don't have anything much to add to this comprehensive report in the Daily News.

A pirate's life for me

I was just reading this story in the Daily News about how officials are being "mum" on regional health director candidates.

I love that word, "mum."

Well ... one name springs into my mind, but maybe that's just me. And the person who sprang it into my mind, of course.

"Squeak I tell you, squeak"

So the buzz on the street (email) is that the much-touted Noisome Trade Agreement - the one that is supposed to save us all from the ravages of New Ventures - ends once all the construction and demolition material is dumped at the landfill.

This momentous event - the end of C&D material - will take place in about 2 weeks. And guess what? Apparently there's no money in the budget to put another noisome trade agreement in place.

Remember the mayor saying it was OK to circumvent the host community agreement because we had the Noisome Trade Agreement to dangle over the landfill owner's head?

Well now, boys and girls, we can rely on the DEP to make everything alright. Because the city apparently has washed its hands of the landfill and has put the onus on the state.

Screw the people who have been, and still are, inhaling hydrogen sulfide at unknown levels. Hey, the other day it was reported that New Ventures' Jerome meters went offline. Where was the health dept. or DEP when that happened?

Did everything shut down at the landfill until the meters were working again? Duh ... no.

And some people wanted to share this extraordinary service with 2 neighboring communities.

I'm just waiting for the fire to break out.

I have a call in to Brian Derrivan in the hopes that he explain all this.

Ohhhh my power just went off for a minute.

"The Health Czar"

Way down the posts - but only a couple of days ago - I wrote about Jack Morris, our health director, and his reported duties in neighboring communities, Amesbury and Salisbury.

At the end of Thursday's Board of Health meeting, the chairman (I believe his name is Robin Blair) made an announcement to "clarify" Morris' role since Amesbury Mayor Thatcher Kezer axed that town's health dept.

OK, his clarification needed clarification, but here's what I understand:

Morris is covering Amesbury in emergencies. I guess the health dept. being eliminated is an "emergency," but we've got one of them there inter-municipal agreements with Amesbury where we share stuff like health directors and fire engines, when necessary.

Same with Salisbury, except in this case -Morris works PT in Salisbury, doing food inspections, on his own time (as in, after 4 Mon.-Wed. and Friday afternoons; City Hall is open until 8 p.m. on Thursdays and closes at noon on Friday). Salisbury pays him for his time.

I hope I got it right!

Good thing it wasn't Earth Hour tonight ...

It was a busy night at City Hall.


All of the meetings, it seems, are scheduled for Thursday nights because that's when City Hall is open late.


There was the Board of Health meeting (I wrote about that in my last post) and the hearing on the Brown Square/burying utility lines issue.


I chose to go to the BOH meeting because I'm all landfill, all the time.


I think there was also a Planning Board meeting and a couple of other things (all the rooms were full of people).


I'd never been to a BOH meeting before - it was pretty interesting.

Sure and be-gone

Is it just me, or is anyone else tired of these equally tired St. Patrick's Day luncheons?

I've been waiting for 2 weeks for Sen. Baddour to return my phone calls and here I see him on the front page of the Daily News, goofing off ... oh, he's so busy ...

Popular material included the recent cuts to the Amesbury Health Department by Kezer, Kezer's purchase of iPhones for city department heads and ongoing negotiations by Moak to cap the Crow Lane landfill.

"I wanna wake up in a city that doesn't reek," Cullen sang to the tune of "New York, New York," presenting Moak with a Jolly Roger flag, a reference to the skull-and-crossbones flag hoisted at the landfill by owner New Ventures.

Poking fun at the ongoing appeals and lawsuits filed by Newburyport City Council Larry McCavitt and his waterfront preservation committee, Cullen noted the differences between McCavitt and City Council President James Shanley. Questioning what the product would be if the two were to combine talents, Cullen held up giant photographs of the councilors, transposed with the other's hair, drawing laughter from the crowd.

Gee, I'm sorry I didn't get to cover this - only because I would have paid to see McCavitt's hair superimposed on Shanley's head ...

And speaking of health departments ... I hear (haven't read it yet, although I guess it has been written) that Jack Morris does triple duty: here, in Salisbury and now in Amesbury.

Do these communities pay 2/3 of his salary, I wonder?

Is my 'illness' regional?

So yesterday, as usual, I drove down to Gloucester to visit my mother.

The whole time, I was encouraged by the fact that I did not cough once and was actually quite sprightly.

Driving home, I passed through Ipswich, turned a corner, and immediately started coughing and hacking. By the time I got to the cottage, I was feeling lethargic and ready for a nap.

I don't know what could possibly be that localized, but I do know that my sister (the one that lives in Gloucester) frequently has to take allergy meds when she comes up here.

It can't be the flora because I see the same old plants all over the place.

So what is it?

I have watermelon for sale over here!

I'm sure you've all heard about this (I heard it on the radio around lunchtime), but watermelon has similar effects on blood vessels to Viagra, according to a report in Science Daily.

Actually, the article is more about how the watermelon is emerging as a fruit that has oh so many natural enhancers to the human body, including relaxing blood vessels (what Viagra does).

"The more we study watermelons, the more we realize just how amazing a fruit it is in providing natural enhancers to the human body. We've always known that watermelon is good for you, but the list of its very important healthful benefits grows longer with each study," said Dr. Bhimu Patil, the leader of the study, which was carried out at the College Station's Texas A&M Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center.

While there are many psychological and physiological problems that can cause impotence, extra nitric oxide could help those who need increased blood flow, which would also help treat angina, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems.

“Watermelon may not be as organ specific as Viagra,” Patil said, “but it’s a great way to relax blood vessels without any drug side-effects.”

I expect that there has already been a rush on watermelon at local grocery stores, even without the organ specificity. Why, oh why, didn't I invest in some watermelon futures?

City nixes puffing in private clubs

Well, I do seem to slam the Daily News a lot* ... but they do also run some fine stories (I mean that in the superlative sense). This one, for example, about private clubs and smoking. There was also a story in March 2006 on the same issue, in the Boston Globe.

Newburyport is banning smoking in private clubs, unless a specially designated smoking area is provided (in a separate, enclosed area).

A few months ago I was talking with Jack Morris (city health director) and he was working on this issue. Since I was there to talk landfill, I didn't put my 2 cents in about smoking bans.

I think it stinks. If people choose to work at a private club where there is smoking, then they know they are exposing themselves to second-hand smoke. So also with the membership.

Private clubs are allowed to do all kinds of stuff that public entities are not (including discriminate), so what's the deal?

What's that you say, commenter on the DN story? The sun causes skin cancer just as much as smoking does, are we going to become mandated to wear sun screen too?

By the way - I may have mentioned this before - Michigan is only just now moving towards banning smoking in bars, restaurants and casinos. Just 29 states and the District of Columbia have such a law.

Related to this, I was just looking at posts and articles online about lung and other cancers. It's so sad how many things are linked to increased risk of cancer: chemical fertilizers, burning wood, wood dust, radon gas, some forms of silica, asbestos, and the newest scare, plastic bottles (to name just a few).

* The DN is not alone in 'skimping' on in-depth news coverage. I find stories about the so-called 'pregnancy pact' and young girls selling themselves on Craigslist (story on CNN.com) to be woefully short on insight. In most instances, this is not fault of the reporter.

But I do shop in Newbury

I was just thinking, as I was eating steak leftover from yesterday's grill, that for all the complaining I do about Newbury, it's my primary destination for food shopping.

I was in Tendercrop the other day, chatting to the checkout lady, and she said, "I keep telling them that if they sold paper products, I'd do all my shopping here!"

I was quick to add cat (dog) food and we agreed there really would be no need to go elsewhere. But then I remembered cleaning products, batteries, toothpaste ... all that stuff I actually buy at CVS anyway. They have good sales on a lot of those common grocery-type items.

But then there's somewhere else, that I don't think I've ever mentioned here - The Newbury Butchery. It's a sort of chain, in that the original is in Beverly or somewhere else southward of here, but I do go in there. Less lately than I used to (not sure why, but I think it has to do with the sloped parking and my E-brake), but it is worth noting.

The steak I just finished off was from there, and it was one of the best steaks I've had for a while (not generally being able to afford the ones at Tendercrop). I don't even bother with grocery store steaks anymore.

This is something I still, after all these years - and along with really good thunderstorms - miss about Michigan. Maybe things have changed there and grocery store steak is no longer good steak. Even the steaks at Ponderosa were good there.

Good corn-fed Iowa beef. I remember when I was in college, in Ann Arbor, my parents came down to take me out to dinner one Sunday. My dad wanted to revisit this German restaurant that had been there since he was a student.

I ordered a steak; he was miffed. We did not have steak much in our house, not being wealthy people, and I like a good piece of rare beef.

Which probably has at least something to do with my "female problems" relating to (benign) tumors that feed off estrogen. And it explains my protruding tummy, which I never used to have. I am told the tumors shrink when one reaches menopause, an event that I have been eagerly awaiting for about 10 years now ...

My thyroid problem is also related to my diet while living there - not enough iodine in the soil in Michigan. Lots of people with goiters and/or thyroid cancer in Michigan. I don't have a goiter, but only because I was on a syntheic thyroid replacement drug for years and years.

Frak, what a switch - from steak to symptoms and side effects.