Is is warmer in the summer or in the country?

A few thoughts on the current Ahotalypse:

• Our improved long-range weather forecasting has made us into wimps. We've had several days to worry about how it was going to be, such that the heat began to feel oppressive even before it was.
• We'll often hear people say that it's like a sauna. Remember that even though 90^°F seems hot, a sauna is often 90^°C. 
• A dew point of 79^°F is, however, unusual.
  
  
• A time of summer heat reminds me of this story of my youth.

Mr. Hakkarainen goes to Helsinki

[This post is one of a series about Teuvo Hakkarainen, the newly elected True Finns Party MP from Viitasaari. For the record, my grandfather was born in Viitasaari.]
It appears that our new public servant fancies the taxis. According to the Helsinki Times,  Mr. Hakkarainen spent more than €2000 in his first two months in office.

Crime in suburbia

From The Landmark (subscription required):
[Editor's note: There were 20 suspicious items this week and four ock-outs]

Holden

Monday, July 11

8:20 a.m. Radar set up due to citizen concerns, Wachusett St.
10:38 a.m. Police assist citizen locked out of vehicle, Main St.
3:43 p.m. Person at station to report suspicious incident, Main St.
3:49 p.m. Caller reports disgruntled patron, Main St.
9:06 p.m. Police at Fairview Ave. for information
10:56 p.m. Moose hit, Wachusett St. near Princeton town line. Moose injured but mobile
11:03 p.m. Three males on foot in area of Country Hill Rd. fled as person drove by

Tuesday, July 12

4:47 a.m. Police check on person on foot in area of Main St.
12:19 p.m. Police assist person locked out of vehicle, Shrewsbury St.
5:01 p.m. Police check on suspicious incident, Reservoir St.
8:07 p.m. Report of female solicitor, Fairchild Dr.
8:46 p.m. Police check area of Main St. for kids
10:27 p.m. Police transport juvenile, General Hobbs Rd.

Wednesday, July 13

12:57 a.m. Police check vehicle with dome light on, Stoneleigh Rd.
1:11 a.m. Police check vehicle with door open, Wyoming Dr.
5:14 a.m. Woman walking in middle of Bullard St.
8:27 a.m. Two males sleeping on steps of building, Shrewsbury St.
9:07 a.m. Assist with car seat installation, Main St.
9:24 a.m. Person yelling and screaming, Wachusett St.
11:55 a.m. Suspicious male on Main St., report that he pulled his pants down in front of female
5:07 p.m. Kids on bikes hanging around parking lot, Main St.
6:46 p.m. Kids trying to gain entry to second floor of school, Jamieson Rd. Child attempting to retrieve his shoe thrown on roof

Thursday, July 14

6:08 p.m. Three youths in roadway talking in obscene manner, Nichols/Manning Sts.
8:19 p.m. Suspicious male carrying box cutter, Boyden Rd.
9:14 p.m. Group of kids causing commotion, Main St.

Friday, July 15

1:19 p.m. Suspicious, skinny male wearing winter hat, Wachusett St.
1:50 p.m. Police disperse group of kids in parking lot, Main St.
4:55 p.m. Group of teenagers using obscene language, Main St.
10:00 p.m. Possible party on football field at high school, Main St.

Saturday, July 16

2:58 a.m. Loud pool party, Twinbrooke Dr.
3:00 a.m. Loud music, Highland St./High Ridge Rd.
3:19 a.m. Loud disturbance, people yelling and arguing, South View Rd.

Sunday, July 17

2:00 a.m. Loud party, Jackson St.
11:27 a.m. Caller reports people cutting down trees without permission, Howard St.
11:46 a.m. Assist elderly female with problem with her vehicle, Main St.
1:43 p.m. Possible illegal burn, Nola Dr.
5:39 p.m. Lawn tractor in roadway, Dominitis/ Wachusett Sts.
11:10 p.m. Four youths walking up Salisbury St.

Paxton

Monday, July 11

8:00 a.m. Deer struck vehicle, West/Soumi Sts. Police requested
11:01 p.m. Leicester PD requests assistance with night vision for male in woods, Crestwood Rd.

Tuesday, July 12

8:49 a.m. Loose dog, Marshall St..
11:16 p.m. Police check on vehicle at Boynton Park, Mower St. Persons advised of park hours

Thursday, July 14

No calls for service

Friday, July 15

7:00 a.m. Dead cat in Richards Ave.
7:47 a.m. Pitbull loose in Richards Ave.

Saturday, July 16

11:49 a.m. Report of fisher cat in yard at night, South St.

Sunday, July 17

1:12 a.m. Suspicious vehicle, West St.
11:34 a.m. Holden PD received report of illegal tree cutting on vacant property on Howard St. Advising it is the property owner

Princeton

Monday, July 11

3:23 p.m. Teenage girl walking on E. Princeton Rd., crying and followed by black car
3:30 p.m. Police transport female to Schoolhouse Rd.
5:53 p.m. Request from person needing ride back to car after being lost on Wachusett Mountain, Westminster Rd.
7:48 p.m. Bear seen on hiking trail, Rte. 140 N
9:02 p.m. Request for ambulance for person who hit moose in Holden and is in her vehicle in Princeton, Worcester Rd.
9:06 p.m. Call from person on hiking trail on mountain who believed she heard a bear, doesn't want to continue on trail. Police transport person to vehicle, Mountain Rd.

Tuesday, July 12

7:57 p.m. Person at station requesting speed signs on Ball Hill Rd.
1:18 p.m. Complaint about barking dog, Worcester Rd.
5:19 p.m. Police transport individual to home on Rte. 140 N
11:49 p.m. Suspicious vehicle parked on Fitchburg Rd. Hiking on cliffs

Wednesday, July 13

11:11 a.m. Dog followed child from Mirick to Hobbs Rds.
1:01 p.m. Police assist person locked out of vehicle, Old Colony Rd. Ext.
6:12 p.m. Westminster PD reports two dogs running in Rte. 140 N

Thursday, July 14

1:30 a.m. Suspicious vehicle, Town Hall Dr.
3:28 a.m. Car running, headlights on, Ball Hill Rd.
10:39 a.m. Suspicious male in vehicle at Echo Lake Trail parking lot, Mountain Rd.
8:35 p.m. Person locked behind gate at state reservation, Mountain Rd.

Friday, July 15

6:30 p.m. Caller reports cat-like animal in yard, Brooks Station Rd.

Saturday, July 16

10:43 a.m. Bat caught in house, animal control officer notified and will pick up for testing, Pheasant Hollow Run
8:51 p.m. While hiking on mountain person came across two bears. Doesn't want to go through the woods, police respond to assist
10:09 p.m. Suspicious vehicle, E. Princeton Rd.
10:17 p.m. Suspicious vehicle, E. Princeton Rd.

Sunday, July 17

4:40 p.m. Wallet found, Rte. 140 N
5:00 p.m. Police bring wallet to owner, Mason Rd., Holden

Rutland

Monday, July 11

8:40 a.m. Suspicious van on side of road unloading into another truck, E. County Rd.
12:27 p.m. Caller heard gunfire in area of Clearview Rd.
5:04 p.m. Three suspicious males, Barre Paxton Rd.
8:04 p.m. Suspicious male took off when seeing police cruiser, Hubbardston town line
11:00 p.m. Stray dog in yard won't let homeowner out of house, Walnut St.

Tuesday, July 12

4:20 p.m. Report of kittens in area of Stevens Way that may be starving
6:12 p.m. Person at station in reference to what she feels is a privacy violation by the assessor's office, Main St.
7:46 p.m. Caller wants to "politely file a complaint" against officer for not speaking to him, Main St.

Wednesday, July 13

8:45 a.m. Officer wanted to keep the peace while union workers working on the tunnel settle a union issue, Pommogussett Rd.
10:35 a.m. Report of male on DCR trail tried to give person's dog some biscuits, Charnock Hill/ Intervale Rds.
9:27 p.m. Suspicious vehicle, Main St. Arrest: Juvenile arrest, possession of Class D drugs to distribute
10:41 p.m. Police checking on vehicle possibly illegally dumping items in Dumpster

Thursday, July 14

1:46 p.m. Report that female in parking lot was rolling a joint, Maple Ave.
9:58 p.m. Dogs baking continuously, unusual for them, police asked to check area, Clealand Cir.

Friday, July 15

6:58 a.m. Dog outside and barking, house open, no one around, request that police check residence, Irish Ln.
7:55 a.m. Loose bull on side of road, Maple Ave.
8:25 a.m. Suspicious activities at 3 a.m. in back yard of home, Ten Rod Rd.
8:26 a.m. Report that road closed sign had been put up on Grizzly Dr.
8:40 a.m. Report of "horrid" smell from farm, Millbrook Street, points south

Saturday, July 16

2:50 p.m. Caller chased by dog while riding her bike, Millbrook St.
9:37 p.m. Suspicious male dressed in black, stumbling up Maple Ave. toward the center

Sunday, July 17

1:11 a.m. Police check on person walking along Main St.
10:15 a.m. Suspicious vehicle in driveway, Glenwood Rd.

Sterling

Monday, July 11

3:44 p.m. Report of door-to-door salesman at house, Albright Rd.
5:39 p.m. Window salesman at door without town identification, Taft Rd.
8:11 p.m. Large cow with horns walking down Redstone Hill Rd.

Tuesday, July 12

4:52 a.m. Suspicious activity, people in yard with flashlights, appeared to be looking in windows, Albright Rd.
5:22 a.m. Caller requesting officers, home broken into and television missing, Albright Rd.
9:49 a.m. Small black dog running loose in road, Crowley Rd./Redemption Rock Trl.
5:12 p.m. Leominster PD requests assistance to transport resident they just stopped from walking onto I-190, Leominster Rd.
8:55 p.m. Officer wanted, person withholding car keys from male, School St

Wednesday, July 13

9:17 p.m. Officer wanted, male states his car keys are being withheld from him, School St.

Thursday, July 14

12:24 a.m. Report of person hiking down Rte.12
9:15 a.m. Injured rabbit in barn, Flanagan Hill Rd.
9:42 a.m. Request to speak with officer regarding neighbor's dog, Gates Ter.
1:48 p.m. Request to speak with animal control officer regarding skunk living under shed, Hilltop Dr.
5:11 p.m. Report of vehicle driving around gate and down path to reservoir, Upper N. Row Rd.
10:16 p.m. Motorist reports loose dog in Greenland/Crowley Rds.

Friday, July 15

10:17 a.m. Raccoon in rubbish can again, Hall Ave.

Saturday, July 16

12:14 a.m. People in parking lot being very loud, Redemption Rock Trl.
12:16 a.m. People shining spotlight and shouting while playing basketball, wants officer to tell them to quiet down, Pamela Ln.
9:17 a.m. Large male pitbull running around Jill Ln.
1:38 p.m. Suspicious vehicle in area of Flanagan Hill/Pratt's Jct. Rd.
4:33 p.m. Officer wanted regarding vehicle going through path next to caller's property and scaring his horses, Upper N. Row Rd.

Sunday, July 17

9:50 a.m. Caller reports bicyclist causing traffic hazard, Justice Hill Rd.
12:46 p.m. Dirt bike in woods, N. Row Rd.
10:16 p.m. Noise complaint, yelling and swearing, dog barking, Griffin Rd.

Learning that I was white

It was television, black and white television, of course, that taught me about race - mine by way of others. It might have been my neighbor's mother, commenting on the blond hair of Mary Wells as she sang Two Lovers on American Bandstand.
It might have been my father admiring the natural rhythm of African dancers on some National Geographic-type show.
It might have been my mother explaining to me that natives didn't mean blacks in African jungles; natives just mean people who lived in a place. I was a native of America. It took a while for me to get that into my head. By the time I did, I knew that I was white.
In a small town in central New England, we had no occasion to meet anyone other folks of European descent. It was mostly Finns, French (by way of Canada), Swedish, Polish, English, and Irish. To compensate, one darker-than-usual Italian  was nicknamed "Nig". I don't know that any harm was meant by it or felt by it. I didn't know because I didn't ask.

I listened to racist jokes and disliked them not because they were offensive, but because they weren't funny.  I sometimes used racist slang because I was trying on personas to find one that fit. I was also a Marxist, Objectivist, and pre-Yuppie for much of the same reason. I argued race relations with our high principal who argued in return that the French-Canadians were treated just as badly.
What I learned about race, then, came from tv, books, and music. I read Claude Brown's Manhcild in the Promised Land and got a nervous A- on my book report. (The teacher wasn't sure if this was an appropriate book, but also wasn't sure if it alright to say that it wasn't.)
The book showed me as much about life in the city as it did about race.When I heard The Drifters sing Up on The Roof, I imagined a world far away from what I would ever be. I didn't, until much later, realize that when I climbed 30 feet up a pine tree in the woods behind the house where I see fields and more trees that I was doing much the same thing.
Except, that, of course, it wasn't the same thing at all.
Or that the song was written by a couple of white folks.

Why Holden needs three national pharmacy chains

Another in the occasional series about Holden's need for three national pharmacy chains.

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The irresistible impulse of retailers to anchor their businesses to holidays or themes shows up this week in premature back-to-school promotions. Even with temperatures hitting their stride, it's never too early to diminish kids' summertime joy.
Walgreens puts their sales on the first page of their local weekly ad.

Rite-Aid exercises comparative restraint by sneaking theirs onto the bottom page.

Only CVS wins the point by having no back-to-school sale yet. Instead, you can get free gas with your high-fiber cereal.