Rear-end collision snarls Route 6 traffic in Harwich
HARWICH - A rear-end collision on Route 6 near Exit 11 in Harwich caused delays for the afternoon commute.A Cape Cod Oil propane delivery truck apparently rear-ended a Nissan Versa. Fortunately there was no product leak from the truck.
One person, believed to be the driver of the Nissan, was taken to Cape Cod Hospital for evaluation.
State Police are investigating the crash.
Photos by Jake O'Callaghan/CWN
Drug Related Search Warrant & Arrests
FALMOUTH - Tuesday morning police seized heroin, a handgun, and over $2900 in cash during a search of a home in West Wareham. In addition, two subjects were arrested as result of the search.
Early Tuesday morning, members of the Falmouth Police Department (Drug Task Force), the Barnstable Police Department (Drug Unit), the Massachusetts State Police Detectives Unit assigned to the Barnstable County District Attorney’s Office (Cape Cod Drug Task Force), and the Wareham Police Department executed a search warrant at 1146 Main Street in West Wareham.
During a search of the home, detectives seized 75 grams of heroin with a street value of $10,000, a semi-automatic .45 caliber handgun, and $2900 in cash. In addition, Christopher Conway, 23, of West Wareham and Samantha Howard, 21, of Mashpee were arrested for Trafficking in Heroin, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, and Conspiracy to Violate Drug Laws. Mr. Conway was also charged as an Armed Career Criminal.
The execution of the search warrant was the result of a lengthy investigation by the Falmouth Police Drug Task Force, Barnstable Police Department (Drug Unit), and the Massachusetts State Police Detectives Unit assigned to the Barnstable County District Attorney’s Office (Cape Cod Drug Task Force). Chief Edward Dunne said, “Severing major illegal drug ties to Falmouth is crucial to keeping our community safe.”
Media release furnished by Falmouth Police
Coast Guard rescues five fishermen from sinking vessel
NANTUCKET - (Video available) Coast Guard rescue crews assisted five people aboard a sinking fishing vessel approximately 100 miles southeast of Nantucket at approximately 3:45 a.m., Thursday.
Watchstanders from the Sector Southeastern New England Command Center received a distress call from the 80-foot fishing vessel Megan-Marie at approximately 6:40 p.m., Wednesday. The vessel reported they were taking on water with five people on board.
The fishing vessel Megan-Marie had all the required safety gear as well as dewatering pumps, but the pumps were not keeping up with the flooding.
A Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter crew and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry crew, a Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City C-130 Hercules crew, the Coast Guard Cutter Seneca and the Coast Guard Cutter Flying Fish were launched to assist.
Additionally, a NAVTEX message was broadcasted requesting vessels in the area to assist if possible.
The air station's newest aircraft, the HC-144 Ocean Sentry, was the first to arrive on scene with the vessel. They established communications and delivered two dewatering pumps. Weather conditions were reportedly 10 to 14-foot seas and 25-knot winds.
The C-130 Hercules crew dropped an additional pump which allowed the Megan-Marie crew to control the flooding and identify the source.
The source of the flooding is a hole located under the engine block, making it impossible to patch or secure underway.
The Seneca and the Flying Fish are escorting the Megan-Marie and her crew safely to their homeport of New Bedford. They will remain with the vessel to ensure issues like fuel or flooding do not create more safety risks.
“The new HC-144 Ocean Sentry out of Air Station Cape Cod has only been standing the watch a few weeks and this was a major search and rescue response," said Lt. Joe Klinker, 1st Coast Guard District public affairs officer. "To get supplies to that crew, in those conditions... once these fishermen get back into port and see their families, it will be a true testament to how important that search and rescue mission is."
The HC-144A also has operational flexibility, with a rear ramp that allows crews to quickly reconfigure the aircraft for varied missions such as command and control, medical evacuation or passenger transport. With an endurance of more than 10 hours, this fixed-wing, turbo-prop aircraft has an extensive sensor capability that helps the Coast Guard fulfill its maritime patrol, drug and migrant interdiction, disaster response, and search and rescue missions more effectively.
Media release furnished by U.S. Coast Guard
Cape public safety radio system completes rebanding
BOURNE - The Cape’s 800 megahertz trunking system, grounded at seven fixed-tower sites from Truro to Sandwich, is being reprogrammed this week -- the final leg of a much longer project to ensure emergency radio communication will continue to flow uninterrupted and unimpeded.
The bulk of the work, undertaken these past 13 months by five technicians at the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office in Bourne, has been a painstaking chore with every emergency public radio on the Cape needing attention. That’s between 3,500 and 3,800 reprogrammed, the Sheriff’s Office estimates, including dispatch consoles, radios built into vehicles, and the smaller ones that are completely portable.
In addition to its own radios, the Sheriff’s Office handled the job for police, fire, emergency medical services (EMS), and other emergency response agencies on the Cape.
It took between a half hour and 40 minutes per unit, says Ralph Swenson, the Sheriff’s chief deputy for technical services. Two techs performed the work each week, a rotation that included Swenson and technicians Rick Waterfield, Ed Glasson, Sean Lyons, and Lester Childs.
“It needed to be done,” says Swenson, “and we’re glad now that it is.”
The job, known as re-banding, is part of a nationwide effort kicked off five or six years ago when system users began to encounter interference from explosive growth in the Sprint/Nextel cell phone system.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is spearheading the effort, and Sprint/Nextel is paying for the requisite manpower requirements (the Sheriff’s techs’ reimbursement included). Few if any communication attempts have been crowded out or otherwise compromised by Nextel’s presence, according to Swenson, “but it was only a matter of time. The clock was ticking.”
Dennis Police Chief Michael Whalen noted the job was under FCC mandate, “so it had to be done. Having the Sheriff’s Office’s oversee it was the best way to go. It got things accomplished in a unified way across the Cape.”
Special Sheriff Jeffrey Perry remarked on the immediacy of two events that seem to highlight the importance of the Cape’s emergency radio broadcast system. “The completion of this 13-month project is significant by itself, but the timing is even more interesting when you consider the blizzard of 2013 and its aftermath. If anyone needs a primer on why we cannot allow emergency communications to be obstructed, it’s during major public safety events, such as a blizzard, when our citizens rely most on them. A job well done by our technical team!”
Media release furnished by Barnstable Sheriff's Office. Editor's note: This change will mean many scanners will no longer follow the system. Newer scanners can be reprogrammed but older ones will for all intents and purposes become glorified paper weights. The live scanner link on the front page will continue to follow the system as quickly as your editor can complete the reprogramming.
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